Reality X Monster Hunter
by IEF
Summary: What happens when the barrier between reality and fantasy is broken?
1. Le Box

**Author's note: Hello, this is IEF. This is my first story, so please go easy on the reviews. This story has been posted on a Monster Hunter forum before, I just shifted it here.  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: Monster Hunter is copyrighted by Capcom. You guys probably knew that already though.  
><strong>

* * *

><p>-Chapter 1 : Le Box-<p>

"Oh god, FINALLY."

Hishoji stared at the screen and nearly cried tears of joy as he pushed the "O" button to collect the Jinouga Jewel in his reward table.

"Bloody drop rates. And they told me it was easy. I mean, seriously?" The sweet taste of victory was quickly giving way to his rage at his classmates for what they told him. ""Ooh, Jinouga? You mean that easy wolf thing? Aw come on, I can hunt him blindfolded with both hands behind my back, while simultaneously jumping up and down, and STILL kill him below five minutes." YEAH. RIGHT."

How long had he been hunting? He checked the clock. 4 AM. Time to get some sleep. Perhaps tomorrow he would obtain even more Jewels to upgrade his entire Jinouga armor and weapon set. As soon as his head hit the pillow, drowsiness overcame him. Who wouldn't, after playing for three days straight without sleeping?

As he jumped off the floor and onto his soft bed, he noticed his PSP displaying a flickering white screen.

_Strange, I was sure I turned it off...meh, I'll check tomorrow. _Hishoji turned his back to the PSP, and happily embraced what his body had been desperately searching for the last two days : sleep.

* * *

><p>The first rays of sunlight hit Hishoji, and he immediately opened his eyes and jumped out of bed into the toilet. Being a hardcore video game player for several years, his body and brain were automatically adjusted towards being fast and precise. Well, "Fast" being "jumping into the toilet in one big stride straight after your eyes open", and "precise" being "not smashing face into wall at the side of toilet."<p>

Sure enough, Hishoji managed to avoid the obstacle known to him as "The Wall of Blood", which got its name from the many times he missed the door and broke his nose on it, staining it a bloody red, and was out of the toilet within minutes.

"Hishoji, get down here and help me make breakfast! I know you're up, I HEARD YOU!" Ayumi, Hishoji's "delightful" little sister, called out from downstairs. Hishoji groaned. No matter how quietly he tries to wake up, Ayumi _always_ heard him. It might be a sibling bond thing, or a women's intuition, but either way she would never fail every morning to make Hishoji help her make breakfast.

"Gimme a minute. Finishing up some Monster Hunter stuff up here." Hishoji replied and picked up his PSP. The screen was now fully black as he expected. He gently nudged the power switch, and observed as the PSP intro appeared on the screen. Then it went all white again.

_What the heck is wrong with this thing?_ Hishoji raised an eyebrow and stared at the screen for a while. _Well nothing's obviously gonna happen, so why am I even waiting here for?_He placed the PSP back onto it's original spot on the table and headed for the door.

_"Open?"_

Hishoji froze. That voice obviously wasn't his parents', nor Ayumi's. His mind began going into overdrive.

_Was there someone in the house? A kidnapper? What kind of kidnapper would waltz into someone's house to kidnap said someone in the early hours of morning? Does the person have a weapon? Is it fatal? Would I die if I attempted to move?_

_"Open?"_The voice spoke again.

Hishoji gulped, and realized that he had forgotten to breathe. He slowly opened his mouth. _Inhale. Exhale._ His body had nearly automatically shut down from all that thinking. Going down in front of somebody he didn't know would be an utter embarrassment. Especially if it really was a kidnapper. What would the media say? _TEEN FAINTS IN FRONT OF KIDNAPPER, KIDNAPPER LAUGHS._NOT happening to him.

_"Open?"_The voice spoke once more, this time a hint of desperation could he heard.

Hishoji whirled around, and found no one behind him. Was it just his imagination, or was the voice coming from his PSP?

_Perhaps if I replied..._

"Open?" Hishoji said. It might be crazy, but still, it was worth a shot.

_"Yes. Open?"_The voice responded.

"Uh...open what?"

_"Pandora's Box. Open?"_

Pandora. He had heard the story before. Opening the box caused the world to suffer. And now, his PSP is asking him to do the same thing?

_I probably shouldn't. But then again, how many times in one's life would one have his own psp talk to him? How do I know this thing won't go away if I refuse? Maybe this is THE opportunity of a lifetime all the teachers at school talk about? Hell, maybe it's a prank from those assholes in class. Maybe they planted some kind of mic in my PSP or something. Well, no harm trying then, I guess._

"Okay...open." Hishoji replied in a clear voice.

Immediately his PSP's screen became so bright it illuminated his entire room, and a distant rumbling could be heard. Hishoji shielded his eyes as the rumbling got louder and louder still. And then, as suddenly as it appeared, the light died.

Hishoji slowly opened his eyes, and the sight before him left him absolutely dumbfounded. Was that a Gagua poking his bed? Was that another one coming out from underneath the table?

"What the hell?" Hishoji cried, as his eyes quickly went back to his PSP. It was now shaking extremely violently, as though an earthquake was happening inside the system itself.

A black shadow pulled itself free from the PSP and jumped straight for the window, smashing it into a thousand pieces. Hishoji ran over to the window, and there his suspicions were confirmed. Two red glowing eyes turned back and appeared to jest Hishoji, as it's wing-blades softened the impact of landing from the 3rd floor. Another second passed, and the shadow jumped off into the nearby trees.

"Naruga..." Hishoji muttered under his breath, and turned back just in time to see plenty more jump over him and onto the streets.

A yellow forelimb with blue stripes appeared out of the PSP.

"Oh no. No no noooo..." Hishoji gasped as the forelimb pulled itself out, revealing a head and then a torso, whose entire structure screamed "extreme ferociousness".  
>The Tigrex took one look at Hishoji and began to charge forward immediately. By some stroke of luck, another Gagua which was nearby was used as a jumping pad for Hishoji, whose leap at that moment would have put any Gold Olympic medal holder to shame. The Tigrex's charge, however completely decimated the wall, and it landed onto the streets, followed shortly by many other Tigrexes, who were apparently attracted by the sunlight.<p>

_Shit, how do I explain this one?_ Hishoji wondered. _Gotta shut my PSP down somehow..._

Hishoji's PSP, however, seemed to have no intention of letting him do that. The speed at which the monsters appeared began to go up, and Hishoji had no choice but to watch the entire parade of Monsters ranging from both Unite to MHP3rd storm past him towards the area where the wall and his room's window once was. How they managed to get out of that small screen did not bother him, in fact his only thought during that moment was that he was thankful that the table was near the window, and that the multiple Fatalis and Amatsus flew past him without noticing the tiny figure huddled in the bed under the blanket, staring at them from underneath it.

A minute later, and the rocking of his PSP began to slow down. Another couple of seconds passed, and it almost stopped completely. Of course, Hishoji knew that was not the end. Sure enough, the screen flashed an electric blue, and the two yellow horns and soft howl the head emitted confirmed that the Jinougas were now making their way through. The first few went for the window without a hitch, but the last one stayed to look around.

After a bit of prodding (which thankfully was only at Hishoji's video game collection, and nowhere near his prized medals), it too began heading for the window. At the same time however, a knock sounded at the Hishoji's door.

"Oi! What's all that noise about? Are you helping me make breakfast or not?" Ayumi screamed from outside.  
><em>Oh god, nooo...<em>Hishoji prayed.

But the Jinouga had heard the noise, and it's curiosity was getting the better of it. It began to head towards the door.  
><em>Come on, gotta do something...anything...<em>He scanned the room from underneath the blanket. Wasn't there ANYTHING he could use to chase it off?

A distant howl sounded, and the Jinouga turned around towards the window. Hishoji let out a silent sigh of relief.  
><em>Is it's pack calling him?<em> Hishoji wondered, and stared in awe as the Jinouga howled in response. It moved past the table, but then suddenly turned its head towards the PSP. In one swift strike, the paw landed dead center, and a distinct cracking sound was heard. It then howled again before jumping out of the window in a colorful flash of electric blue, yellow and silver.

Hishoji finally came out from his blanket. Now that it appeared to be safe, he had another problem to consider.  
><em>How the hell am I gonna explain this to everyone?<em>


	2. Le Explanation

**Author's note : Oh snap, I just realized I reversed the title's format from it's original. Oh well, doesn't make much of a difference anyway.**

**Now, if you have not noticed yet, I'm not exactly that awesome with descriptions. How Hishoji, Ayumi and some other characters yet to be introduced look like would be up to you. I'll **_**probably**_** (read: highly unlikely) detail it in if I ever find the time. **

* * *

><p>"Geez, that's it, I'm coming in!" Ayumi screamed once again, the impatience in her voice now blatantly obvious. The doorknob turned, and the door made a loud creaking sound before it fell from its hinges and collapsed into the room.<p>

There was a moment's pause as Ayumi's eyes took in the glorious sights of Hishoji's room. Or rather, what was left of it.

"W-what is this I don't even-" She was evidently trying her best to make sense of the catastrophe, although it didn't seem to be going very well.

"Alright, you have some MAJOR explaining to do."

Hishoji winced. He opened his mouth, stopped, lifted a finger in the air and attempted to speak again, stopped once more, and then brought his palm to his face.

"It's uh, complicated." He finally said.

"Complicated? COMPLICATED? Look at the books! Look at the wall! Where _is _the wall? Why is the table in two pieces? What happened to the door? What am I gonna tell Mom? The hell did you pull this time?" Her voice was becoming increasingly loud.

"Look, I'll tell you if I knew, how was I supposed to know that voice wasn't a prank from those idiots in class? And who would expect real life, breathing, MONSTERS to appear from this bloody PSP?" Hishoji retaliated. "Oh shoot, the PSP!"

Hishoji turned away and headed for what was left of the table and his beloved PSP. He lifted it up with both hands and gasped as he slowly inspected the damage.  
>Aside from the cracked screen, there didn't appear to be any major damage done.<p>

"Hmm, looks like it's still fixable," Hishoji sighed in relief, and then realized that he had spoke too soon as his PSP crumbled away in his hands. "Well. Damn." He threw the scraps onto his bed and turned around to Ayumi.

"Okay, where do I start..."

* * *

><p>"Let me get this straight. I am to believe that a whole bunch of these...<em>monsters<em>...appeared right after a mysterious voice from your PSP miraculously _SPOKE_ to you, and asked if you wanted to open Pandora's Box?"

"That's more or less what happened, yes," Hishoji nodded, and then noticed that Ayumi was giggling. "The hell's so funny?"

"I don't know if I should laugh or cry. Have you not been sleeping lately?" She chuckled.

"Sleep is for the weak. Besides, if you have a better explanation for _this_," Hishoji pointed towards the hole in the room, "and _THAT_," He jerked his finger towards the Basarios walking along the street nearby stretching itself in the sun, "You're welcome to try."

Ayumi stared at the rock wyvern in amazement as it slowly brought out its wings to full length, and then proceeded to burrow itself under their neighbor's garden.

After a minute or so of staring, she turned back to Hishoji, the amazement and shock still evident on her face.

"Well then, genius, you started all this, how do you purpose we end it?"

"Uh...hide in our house and hope for the best that they'll all disappear or something?" Hishoji answered meekly.

"Eh, whatever happened to the "**I AM THE MAIN CHARACTER, THIS IS MY STORY**" brother I used to know?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Fine, fine, give me a moment to think," Hishoji scowled and tried to concentrate. "Well, they're monsters from the Monster Hunter Portable series, so I supposed we could try our luck with hunting them down like our hunters do? Nah that won't work, our hunters had proper weapons, and hell even then it took them some time to kill the monsters. Hey maybe we could try our luck with the army, who knows, maybe they'll-"

"_Pandora's Box!_" Ayumi cut into his train of thought.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Pandora's Box," Ayumi repeated. "You know, in the story after she released all those evil emotions and whatnot, _hope_ was the last to be released. Quick, check your PSP!"

"Good point. Guess it's worth a shot. Even with my PSP broken to this extent," Hishoji replied, and turned to his PSP. "Open."

There was an odd crackling sound, and then the PSP screen flickered and displayed the same white screen Hishoji had seen before it unleashed hell.

_"Open?"_The mechanical voice spoke out of the PSP.

Ayumi jumped back in surprise at the sound of the voice.

"Open." Hishoji repeated.

_"Open what? There's nothing left to open, you fool. You let them all out. Now you can't get them back in."_The voice said sarcastically.

"I don't care, you caused all this to happen, now you better start making it up before I tie you to a weight and dump you into the nearest ocean." Hishoji said, slowly beginning to get angry at his PSP for causing this chain of events.

_"Ooh, I'm so scared. Do it, then. Your funeral, since you'll never fix this mess without me."_The voice replied confidently.

Ayumi rolled her eyes, and made a begging gesture. Hishoji noticed and swallowed his pride.

"Damn, you really got me, haven't you? Fine then, please? Just some help?"

_"That's better,"_ The screen flickered once, twice, and then a hand sporting yellow armor with silver hair appeared out of it. _Well, what are you waiting for, Christmas? Pull him out already."_

Hishoji grabbed the hand and began pulling. Slowly but surely, the figure that appeared out of the portal began to seem more and more familiar to him. Eventually they pulled the entire person out, and Hishoji stepped back in surprise.

"Jinouga armor, with Jinouga Switch Axe? You...don't happen to be VoltageEX, do you?"

"Woah, how did you know my name? Are you a wizard?" A gruff voice replied from underneath the armor.

"VoltageEX? What kind of name is that?" Ayumi laughed.

"Gimme a break, you know I was never good with names. Besides, this armor, holy shit..." Hishoji muttered, and took a closer look at the Jinouga armor. If it looked impressive in the game, then it certainly looked awesome in real life. He took a quick jab at the torso, and quickly retracted his finger after some sparks flew.

"Oi, what are you doing? Don't prod people like that, it's plain rude. And also, can somebody mind filling me up on things? Let's start by where I am, eh?" The hunter sat down on the floor and looked at his surroundings. No doubt it appeared extremely odd, since most of the inventions in the current time did not exist from where he came from.

"I guess you could say you were summoned to help us get rid of those monsters," Hishoji began, "Although I'm not sure if we can afford to pay you anything. Do you only accept Zennie?"

"Eh, if it's just a couple of monsters, I'll gladly help you for free. The materials are reward enough anyway. Name my targets."

"Alright then Volt, could we call you Volt?" -the hunter nodded- " Your targets are every single monster you eliminated up till this point in time, and many others which you probably have not seen before because they don't exist in the region you came from."

"EVERY SINGL- Well, I'll be damned. Is it too late to say 'no' now?"

"Well, I don't think you'll be able to head back to where you came from anyway. Wanna try?" Ayumi said and pointed at the PSP.

Volt jabbed a finger towards the PSP screen, and immediately the white screen appeared again.

_"I won't try that if I were you."_The voice echoed all around the room.

"Gah! A demonic device!" Volt jumped up and unsheathed his Switch Axe, before swinging it down with his full force. The PSP did a gentle rock to the side and evaded the attack by a few inches. Hishoji's bed, however, was neatly sliced into two.

"It moves! It's possessed I tell you, _POSSESSED_!" Volt held his Switch Axe high in the air to attack once more.

"Woah, stop, STOP!" Hishoji and Ayumi cried in unison as they pulled Volt backwards. Their pulling didn't seem to have any effect on Volt though, as he continued his attack like they weren't even there.

"Show some gratitude, won't you? It was the thing that brought you here to us!" Ayumi cried in desperation.

Volt suddenly stopped mid-swing, and slowly brought his Switch Axe down.

He looked to Ayumi to Hishoji, then to the hole in the wall.

"I think our little commotion just brought us some _uninvited company_." He spoke the last two words slowly.

Hishoji and Ayumi turned their heads towards the hole. A streak of blue stood out from the gray of the road.

"Velocidrome..." Hishoji muttered under his breath, and turned to Volt.

"Do your stuff."

"With pleasure." Volt braced himself and jumped off the hole onto the street, his armor making the landing impact nonexistent.

The Velocidrome let out a howl of rage. Volt sneered under his armor.

"_Bring it._"


	3. The Blue Raptor : VS Velocidrome!

**Author's note: This is probably obvious enough, but if you see me refering to Hishoji as 'the boy', it's because I'm typing it out through Volt's perspective. He learns their names this chapter though.**

**If you guys see any errors in the text with regards to names, do tell me. It's because I replaced their names from what they were in the original story. Also, they might be some parts where words are missing a space in between (Especially the parts where italics and normal words meet). I have no idea what's causing this, but I have tried to fix majority of them. I still might miss out on some though, do forgive me if that happens.  
><strong>

* * *

><p>The Velocidrome started circling around Volt, unsure whether it would be wise to make the first move. Beneath his armor, Volt began to assess his target. It obviously wasn't that much of a threat, but if he had learned anything from his hunting career, it was to never underestimate any monster, no matter how weak it may seem. He began moving slowly in front. The Velocidrome continued to keep its distance.<p>

_I hope it doesn't notice those two up there,_ Volt's attention shifted to the two teens still standing in their house observing him. _Might be trouble if it decides to launch an attack on them instead of me._

The Velocidrome noticed that Volt was distracted, and instantaneously jumped into the air before slashing him with its talon as it landed on top of him.

Volt grunted as the impact of the attack sent him flying a few feet. He recovered quickly though, and was on his feet again before the Velocidrome could attack once more.  
><em>Focus, Volt!<em> He told himself, and unsheathed his Switch Axe.

* * *

><p>Three stories above, Hishoji and Ayumi watched the battle unfold anxiously.<p>

"I hope he's really as good as he looks," Ayumi whispered as she saw Volt take a hit. "He doesn't seem to be holding up very well."

"Of course he is. After all, I made him myself," Hishoji whispered back, "He just never hunted a Velocidrome before. They don't exist in the Yukumo region."

"Right...but that thing still looks kinda weak in comparison to his amazing armor. Would be pretty absurd if he lost," Ayumi replied, "Oh look, he just took another hit."

* * *

><p>Volt pulled himself to his feet once more. This thing really <em>was<em> harder than it looked. The gravity wasn't helping either. His armor felt more of a burden here than a help, and it was making his movements sluggish. He was getting the timing of the Velocidrome's attacks down, though.  
><em>One well aimed attack should send it flying.<em>

Volt noticed the Velocidrome rearing its back legs again, and his hands tightened on his weapon. The same moment the Velocidrome jumped, Volt raised his Switch Axe high.

As he predicted, the Velocidrome's jump brought it straight into the point of impact of his Switch Axe swinging down. It let out a loud yelp and sailed through the air, before letting out a resounding "THUNK" as it's body hit the floor.

Volt wasn't about to give it a chance to get back up, and promptly dashed forward before swinging his Switch Axe down full force onto the Velocidrome's neck. The attack decapitated the Velocidrome's head from it's body, and its blood gushed out like a fountain before disappearing into thin air.

"The hell?" Volt exclaimed. The Velocidrome's corpse was fizzling out into black and white pixels in front of his eyes. "What trickery is this?"

* * *

><p>Above him, Hishoji's face was a puzzled one as well.<p>

"What's happening to it?" Hishoji questioned his PSP.

_"Well that was a fast kill. Certainly wasn't expecting him to get used to this new environment so quickly." _His PSP rambled on to itself.

"Oi! Answer the damn question!" Hishoji irritatedly said.

_"What? Oh, right, the Velocidrome. Quickly, bring me down to it."_ The voice replied.

"How am I supposed to do that when you're in pieces?"

_"Since when was I in pieces? Look again, carefully this time."_

There was a brilliant flash of light, and Hishoji's PSP was whole again.

_"Ah, the wonders of technology. Astounding isn't it, look, not a scratch to be found! Now, back to business. To the Velocidrome we go."_

Hishoji absentmindedly placed his PSP into his pocket. It obviously had greater power than he first thought. Releasing monsters from games, regenerating itself, what's next? Transforming into a robot? Either way, the voice sounded serious when it told him to bring it to the Velocidrome. He had better not keep it waiting.

* * *

><p>Volt continued staring at the Velocidrome. More than half of its body had disappeared, and the part remaining was fizzling out fast.<p>

"Good job, Volt!" He turned in the direction of the voice.  
><em>Oh. Those two.<em> The boy and girl were running towards him from their house. He looked around their surroundings. _Guess there aren't anymore monsters around...yet._  
>He squatted down and began to play with what was left of the Velocidrome's body.<p>

The boy ran up to him, his face a light shade of red from the running.  
><em>Someone's obviously not getting enough exercise. <em>He thought laughingly to himself.

"Eh? What are you looking at?" The boy asked as he noticed Volt staring at him.

"Probably at how tired you look. And to think, it was just a short run!" The girl teased him. Volt quickly turned his head back to the corpse. Three-quarters of it was gone now.

"Alright, now what?" The boy said as he slid out his PSP from his pocket.

_"Now, we put it back where it belongs. Inside the game,"_ The PSP replied, _"Do position it so my screen is facing the Velocidrome."_The boy did as he was told, and with a quick flash of light the Velocidrome's body disappeared completely.

_"Good job. We're done here then. Back to the house."_

"I don't think so. Not until you tell me what happened to the monster I just hunted." Volt said as he stood up.

_"Hmm? Well, if you insist then. You see, all the monsters came from virtual reality. Their minds might have taken form when they passed through to Earth , but their bodies remained the same - still part of a game. And whilst they can remain in this world for some time, they're unable to last for too long in reality. Eventually, if they either get killed or insist on staying in this world for too long, they would return to what they originally were : pixels." _

"That's good news isn't it? We could just relax in our house or something while waiting for them to disappear naturally." The boy said excitedly.

_"True, but there isn't a fixed time frame for them to disappear. A certain monster might disappear in a month, but another might take years. It depends on the monster itself. And besides,"_ - the voice chuckled - _"You let out so many, who knows how much damage they could do in a day, much less years."_

"Damn, I was sure I found a loophole." The boy looked crestfallen.

"Well then, I guess all we have to do is to hunt down all of them?" The girl suggested.

_"Easier said than done. The monsters can retreat to ANY electronic device to regenerate lest they disappear, and this means that they can hide anytime, anywhere. Who knows if they might even hop from device to device?" _The voice replied.

"Well, damn, you really made this hard for us haven't you?" The boy sounded irritated as he placed the PSP back into his pocket and turned towards the house.

"Hold up. It just occurred to me that none of you introduced yourselves to me yet." Volt said.

"Oh, right. I'm Ayumi." The girl stretched out her hand, and Volt shook it warmly.

"Hishoji," The boy said.

"What about the contraption?" Volt inquired.

Hishoji took out his PSP.

"Yeah, what about you? You haven't told us your name yet."

_"I guess you may call me...uh...PSP™."_

"Wha-? That sounds even lamer than VoltageEX. How do you even pronounce it anyway? PSP Tee-am? PSP Trade Mark?" Ayumi asked.

"Trade Mark. That will be your name then. Mark." Hishoji said.

_"You guys really love nicknames, don't you?"_ The PSP yanked itself free from Hishoji's grip and floated in the air. _"Whatever then, call me Mark if it so amuses you."_

"Jeez, if you could float, why the eff didn't you carry yourself here? Gah, stupid machines. I preferred it when you guys aren't self aware." Hishoji stormed off towards the house.

"H-hey! Wait up Hishoji!" Ayumi cried and went after him, leaving both Volt and Mark behind.

* * *

><p>"Well?" Volt said coldly.<p>

_"Well what?" _Mark replied, and began floating around Volt.

"You know what I'm talking about. When you said that if characters from the game stayed here for too long they'll revert back to pixels. I am assuming that applies to me too?"

_"Sadly, yes. I did make you extra durable though. Don't worry about it."_

"Can't I hop into an electronic device, or whatever it was you said, to regenerate as well?"

_"That, unfortunately, would be a 'no'. I didn't create you with the intention of you leading them by their hands into everything. You're simply a temporary helpline for them, your objective here is to guide, assist them if necessary, but nothing more than that. It would therefore be important that you start teaching them everything you know about monster hunting. Wouldn't want them to be the same as they are now when you're gone, would you?"_

"A temporary helpline, hm? I suppose it would be best then, that I keep this from them until they realize it themselves?" Volt eyed Mark carefully.

_"It will be most beneficial to both of us, yes."_ Mark began to slow down, and landed on Volt's palm.

"Very well then. I'll begin getting those two into shape. Not like I have much of a choice anyway," Volt sighed. He lifted his head and looked at the blue sky above him.

_It seems destiny has made a fool of me._

"Let's head back."


	4. Can I have my weapons now?

**Author's note : By the way, I don't actually update this fast. Typically a new chapter comes out every seven days. But because we have a lot of catching up to do (roughly twenty-odd chapters), I'll post one or two chapters here every day.**

**I also absolutely must mention this. I had read a tad too much manga after I finished this chapter. So you can expect lots, and I mean lots of shounen stuff starting from the next chapter. (Like your typical overpowered main character, god modding, a final boss that only sends his minions to do his job, etc. I toned it down after a while though.)**

**Now, you're probably bored with reading three paragraphs worth of an author's note, but I'm required to post this warning with every chapter. This is a direct copy-and-paste, so if you spot any inconsistencies, please forgive my errors.**

* * *

><p>Hishoji walked slowly around the area where the concrete had fallen off in chunks from his room by the Tigrex's charge, inspecting the damage done. He picked up a small piece and watched it break into several smaller pieces in his palm.<p>

_Frigging Tigrex. _He swore in his head and kicked another piece into the nearby bush, where it too broke into multiple pieces. Light footsteps sounded behind him, and Ayumi appeared beside him shortly, only slightly out of breath.

_How did she manage to run all the way to and fro without breaking a sweat? _Hishoji raised an eyebrow at her.

"There you are! Did you know how long it took for me to find- oh. Crap, I totally forgot about this." Ayumi stared at the broken wall which had fallen from the third floor.

"How do we explain this one to Mum and Dad? And speaking of them, where _are_ they? I haven't seen them all morning."

"Did you forget again? They left for their business trip early last morning."

Hishoji faintly recalled their parents saying something about it, but he was too engrossed that day in his PSP to respond.

"Well, that's good right? We'll have enough time to clean up. If the neighbors ask, we'll just say we're doing renovation or something. Maybe we can get Mark to solve this problem. He owes us this much, as least." Hishoji shrugged and headed for the front door.

"I hope so," Ayumi replied, and headed into the house after him.

* * *

><p>A couple of minutes later, Hishoji and Ayumi heard the front door opening from the former's room.<p>

"About time." He muttered, and started running downstairs, Ayumi a few steps behind him. Unfortunately, Volt happened to be running _up_the stairs at the same time, resulting in a very messy collision in the middle.

Hishoji groaned and rubbed his head. It was definitely going to feel sore for the next few days. Ayumi and Volt picked themselves up as if nothing happened, and Mark hovered around them slowly.

"The hell was that about?" Hishoji slowly lifted himself up using the wall.

"Sorry about that. Are you alright?" Volt apologized.

"I would be once that floating PSP fixes the hole in the wall."

_"Hole? What hole?"_

"The hole in his room, of course." Ayumi quipped.

_"Oh right, that hole. Why don't we uh, move to Hishoji's room before discussing anything else? It's a bit cramped in here."_

The four of them quickly walked over to Hishoji's room, with Ayumi pushing Hishoji along despite his exaggerated cries of pain. Once inside, Mark began a quick scan of the wall while the other three sat on the floor.

_"Alright, I got this." _Mark's screen began to light up again, and with a quick flash, Hishoji's room looked as good as new.

"Yeah! Problem solved!" Hishoji jumped up with his hands in the air, his head somehow 'miraculously' healed. "Now, what are we gonna do with the debriiiiiiii-" His hand had went right through the wall, and he had lost his balance due to surprise.

Volt quickly extended his hand and pulled Hishoji back. Once he had regained his balance, Hishoji turned to Mark, fury all over his face.

"The eff was that?"

_"Eh, it's just a projection. What did you expect me to do?"_

"I dunno, do some of that magic healing thing like how you repaired yourself?" Hishoji spat.

_"Heh, if I could I would. Sadly I cannot repair anything else besides this body. Besides, we have more important issues to settle."_

"_What _issues?" Hishoji's eyes narrowed. He was beginning to have his doubts about believing anything Mark said, especially after the incident just now.

"I suppose it's my turn to talk now," Volt straightened himself and cleared his throat before continuing, "After thinking it through, I decided that it would be best that I train you personally in the arts of monster hunting, so that we can deal with the current situation together, and that we would know what to do should we get caught alone with our pants down."

It took a moment for the information to sink in, but as it did, a wide grin began to appear on Hishoji's face.

"So we're gonna be _real life hunters?_" Ayumi asked.

"I guess you could say that. Go ahead, pick a weapon." Volt stepped back and placed Mark on the floor.

"Holy mother of Prinnies!" Hishoji let out a outburst of joy. "Which one should I pick? Long Sword? Gunlance? Dual Swords? Can I use everything? Can I?"

"Erm, yeah, I'm not really sure, are there any weapons that can attack from a distance?" Ayumi said, completely ignoring Hishoji.

_"Sure. I'll get you the Light Bowgun, then." _Mark replied and almost instantaneously, a contraption somewhat resembling a crossbow appeared.

The crossbow had a unique gleam on its metal frame, reflecting the colors of the rainbow in a soft glow as Aymi looked at it. Ayumi took it without much thought, and was slightly startled to find that the weapon was extremely light despite its initial appearance.

As she brought the weapon closer towards her, Ayumi heard what seemed to be mechanical sounds emitting softly from the weapon. There was a black barrel attached to the firing end of the crossbow complete with a scope mounted on the body. Directly below the scope was a small rectangular slot, and the weapon's white string was inside of it. Ayumi observed that the string seemed to glow with a light of its own as well.

She couldn't really understand the functions of the weapon, but there was one thing Ayumi knew weapons like these needed.

"So, Mark," She looked at the PSP screen, "Where's the ammo?"

_"Good question. Here, completely compressed into bone husk size,"_ Several small white packets each labelled with a different name depending on their bullet type jumped out of the PSP screen as Mark said that. Ayumi gathered them all, then turned to Mark again with a skeptical look on her face.

"You sure this is enough?" She picked one of the packets up and raised an eyebrow. "This doesn't look like it can allow me to fire more than once."

_"Oh don't worry about that, there's the maximum amount for each type inside one of those. I said I compressed them, didn't I?"_ Mark replied.

"And if I run out of bullets?" Ayumi still wasn't convinced.

_"I'll give you more whenever you need it,"_ Mark sighed, _"Besides, I thought it would be more convenient for you this way. Unless you would prefer to carry ninety nine types of every bullet around in a backpack..."_

"I'll pass on that," Ayumi turned her attention to the bullets and started to look through each type carefully.

"Alright, what about you?" Volt turned to Hishoji, who was still muttering frantically on what weapon he should use. He finally stopped after a minute, and seemed to have arrived at a decision.

"Eh, what the heck. Let me try out the Great Sword."

_"Done." _Another quick flash, and a gigantic sword whose size was equal to Hishoji appeared. The blade's edge was jagged and had spikes lining along it.

"Sweet. Ravager Blade," Hishoji took the sword by the handle. "Eh, it's kinda...heavy."

"Why do you think we move so slow when a Great Sword is unsheathed, genius?" Volt asked and folded his arms.

As soon as Mark's glow had disappeared from the Great Sword, however, the blade fell straight onto the ground with a loud thunk. Hishoji had just managed to let go of the handle in time.

"Holy Prinnies, can I do a weapon swap? Thing almost took my hand with it."

"Make up your mind please. You have to be decisive if you're going to be a good hunter," Volt replied, and rolled his eyes under his helmet.

"Well, damn, I'm sorry I don't have enough strength to lift up a 1 ton sword. Maybe I should just fight using my fists instead?" Hishoji muttered.

_"Kay."_ Mark's screen lit up again, and in a split second the Great Sword was replaced by a pair of gloves, one black and one red. They were quite long, and Hishoji predicted that they would take up to a third of his entire arm's length should he wear them.

"Wait, you're serious?" Hishoji took the gloves and checked them for any unique properties. They didn't look anything too special, but as Hishoji donned the gloves he noticed that they were skin-tight to the extent that he didn't even feel as though he was wearing anything on his hands at all.

"I didn't know Monster Hunter had fists as weapons," Hishoji chuckled and admired the gloves' flexibility.

_"This isn't Monster Hunter,"_ Mark replied. _"I'd rather you use a weapon you preferred than die using a weapon you obviously have no experience in."_

"Right, I can totally beat up monsters with my fists of fury," Hishoji cocked his head to one side and clenched his fists. Immediately a short blade with oddly glowing runes engraved on it appeared out of the black one, and several short spikes appeared out of his knuckle in the red one.

"Whoa, cool. Wasn't expecting this. Now I feel like Wolverine! Hey guys, check this out! FALCON PUNCH!" Hishoji exclaimed as he threw himself into the nearby wall with his fist out, completely forgetting that said wall was merely a projection.

He proceeded to take a tumble three stories down, and yet somehow the blade on his fist managed to penetrate the ground, resulting in him doing a very weird handstand of sorts.

"Uh...Help?"

"Suddenly, I fear for the future of humanity." Volt shook his head incredulously, and Ayumi brought her palm to her face.


	5. Things just got complicated

**Author's note: **From this point on, there will be heavy use of bold, italics and underline to make it easier to differentiate over who is talking. ** Don't say I didn't warn you. I know constantly demotivating myself like this isn't going to help me get more viewers, but hey, my pen name 'IEF' means 'IamEpicFailure' anyway.  
><strong>

**What else...oh yeah, my writing style tends to differ from chapter to chapter. You'll see that in later chapters. And as usual, the warning : ****This is a direct copy-and-paste (with some parts revised), so if you spot any inconsistencies, please forgive my errors.**

* * *

><p>"How does your brother even survive in this world, Ayumi? Doesn't constantly doing dumb things like this make everyday a gamble for his life?" Volt asked as he headed downstairs.<p>

"Like hell I'd know. Sometimes even I wonder what goes through that head of his." Ayumi sighed and followed Volt downstairs to help Hishoji get upright again.

As they approached him, Hishoji frowned and tried once more to dislodge the fist-blade from the ground. He pedaled his feet in the air multiple times to get his center of gravity up, but it obviously wasn't working. Volt walked up swiftly and plucked him out with one hand in an action not unlike how one pulls weed from one's garden.

"I-I could have freed myself, you know. Just needed a little more time, that's all." Hishoji stuttered, and looked away in embarrassment.

"Right. Yep. Okay. You done with the excuses? If you are, get in position over here, I'll start teaching you guys the basics." Volt replied and silently chuckled. Hishoji reminded him much of himself when he was younger, after all.

_Hang on. When I was younger? _He didn't notice it earlier as the impact of being thrust into a new environment and immediately being pitted into a fight against a monster had occupied his mind, but now that he was more comfortable he realized that he couldn't remember a single thing about his past. _What was I doing before I got here?__  
><em>

Volt closed his eyes and tried to search his memories. Hazy images appeared, but melted away the instant he attempted to focus on them. Eventually he opened his eyes and frowned in frustration, then shot a glance at Mark idling on the steps of the front door.

__Bloody contraption, what did you do to my head?__

"Oi, Volt! We're waiting!" Hishoji's voice shook him out of his reverie.

"Right, sorry. Was just thinking about something. Okay then, seeing as how I'm more acquainted with Bowguns than with those weird Fist weapons, I'll start with Ayumi. Why don't you watch us from a distance, like over there?"

"First you told me to come over here and now you tell me to watch you from over there. Make up your mind dammit." Hishoji grumbled and moved to the position Volt had told him to watch them from.

"Alright now, Ayumi, could you lend me your Light Bowgun for a moment?"

Ayumi passed the bowgun over, and Volt inspected it closely. It didn't resemble any Light Bowguns that the blacksmith in Yukumo village had created before, and yet it looked like something an expert blacksmith had created from extremely valuable materials. Other than the odd glow though, there didn't seem to be anything else unique about it.

"Alright, we'll start with how to use the weapons. Gunner basics 101, this is how you reload. You see this slot and string here? To put it simply, you pop one of these bone husks inside, and then you give this string a hard tug." Volt took one of the bullets Ayumi had in her hands and pushed it inside, a 'click' sounding to signify that the bullet was locked in place.

As he placed his palm on the white string however, a tingling sensation went through his arm, and he found both his arms paralyzed in their place.

_You're not worthy to use me, fool. Return me to the girl,_ A silky feminine voice reverberated in his mind. _Or the next jolt will be fatal._

_What the hell? _Volt nearly dropped the bowgun in surprise at the voice. It had managed to instill fear into him with just two sentences, and he could feel his knees beginning to quake.

"Uh...Volt? You okay?" Ayumi waved her hand in front of Volt's helmet.

"W-what? Yeah I'm fine. Why don't you, um, try reloading it yourself? It's probably better to have hands-on experience." Volt barely managed to stop his voice from shaking.

"Sure!" Ayumi replied cheerfully, and took the bowgun from his hands before proceeding to load it. Volt stared at her intensely as she tugged on the string without any problems whatsoever.

"Um, what's with the look? Am I doing something wrong?"

"No, you're doing great," Volt muttered. "When firing, you should always use the scope. You could shoot without the scope too, but it's generally easier to aim with it."

_Whatever that thing was just now, I had better listen to it and refrain from touching the Bowgun._ Volt decided as he continued showing Ayumi the ways of the gunner. _I got a feeling it was serious about the next one being fatal._

* * *

><p>"The hell are those two doing there? Seriously, making me wait in this heat, do they think it's funny?" Hishoji whined and squatted down, drawing circles on the ground with his finger. He had tried unsuccessfully to summon the blade and spikes hidden inside his fist weapons while waiting for the two, but they refused to show up again despite how much he clenched his fists.<p>

"This is boring, I don't wanna watch them train, I wanna do some training too!" Hishoji stood up and started jumping about. "Humph, if Volt won't teach me, I'll just have to teach myself."

He got no further than throwing two punches into midair before his head suddenly started to ache. Hishoji cried out in pain and fell to the ground, clutching at his head as the splitting headache got increasingly worse.

_How nice to meet you at last. _A serpentine voice echoed throughout his head. Though he did not know it at the time, the same fear that Volt had felt began rising up in his chest, consuming every last ounce of courage he had, and turning every hope he had once garnered into despair.

His vision blurred, and then became nothing more than a mixture of two colors : A deep crimson, and an unholy black.

* * *

><p>Hishoji blinked. The headache was gone. He picked himself up and looked around. Everywhere around him, a random swirl of color drifted by.<p>

"The heck? Am I DEAD?" He shouted. The last word came echoing back to him. _Dead...dead...dead..._

"Well, either dead, or unconscious." He confirmed. "Unless this is some weird alien planet and I had been abducted by aliens while watching Ayumi and Volt train. Psh, yeah right." Hishoji laughed at himself.

He choked halfway through the laugh when he realized that two other voices were laughing alongside him. He turned to the general direction of the voice, and did a double-take. Standing in front of him was none other than _himself_! To be precise, two of them. Every facial feature he had, these doppelgangers had as well, although there was a stark difference when it came to dressing and eye color.

One was wearing a tattered red jacket with a red shirt underneath, and the other was in a black suit, appearing as if he was attending a business conference. Their eyes were the matching colors of their clothes, and neither had any pupils.

_"__What's wrong? What did you stop?__" _The Hishoji dressed in black questioned was the exact voice Hishoji had heard before he fainted. The voice sounded formal, but had a heavy tinge of evil mixed in.

_"__You piece of shit, continue laughing dammit! You dare defy me?"_ The Hishoji in red barked at him. The voice of this one was cruel, and most likely on the brink of insanity.

Hishoji slowly stepped back and tried to assess the situation. He was seeing the impossible, so no doubt this was a dream. The best course of action would be to merely inflict pain upon himself to wake himself up, but this conversation with "himself" might turn out interesting.

"I-"

_"__Don't talk back you little shit! I commanded you to LAUGH!__"_ Hishoji's eyes widened as the Hishoji in red disappeared for an instance before reappearing behind him, then cleanly kicked him on the side of his face.

Hishoji was sent flying for a few meters, and landed face down on the floor.

_Crap, that one hurt. I might have to reconsider the dream theory._He barely had enough time to think the sentence out before the red suited Hishoji appeared behind him again, and pulled him by his hair.

_"__Are you going to laugh, or do I have to make you?__" _The red Hishoji hissed into his face.

Hishoji coughed and let out a slow laugh, hampered by his injuries.

_"__A half-assed effort. Pathetic. Oi, Kuroi, catch!__"_ Immediately after saying that, Hishoji was sent flying across the room once more, where he was caught nicely by the black suited Hishoji. He was then set nicely onto the floor.

_"__Not bad, I give you credit for surviving a punch from Shinki. Granted, he did just use a tiny fraction of his strength. Now, there is no need for you to talk, we know everything about you the moment you equipped us.__" _Kuroi smiled, and swatted off some dust from Hishoji.

"Equipped?" Hishoji blurted out. Both Kuroi and Shinki instantly delivered a punch to his ribs, and as Hishoji bent over in pain he heard something inside him break.

_"__I said there was no need to talk. It would do you good to listen to us while you're in here,__"_ Kuroi narrowed his eyes, and brought his face close to Hishoji's. _"__Today is for our introductions. We are your weapons, the gloves you put on earlier. And now that we're done with that, we could show you how to use us at full power, right from the start. What say you?__"_

"Y-yes p-please." Hishoji whimpered, and closed his eyes, expecting another blow to his body.

_"__Well jeez, what are you so scared about? We ain't gonna hit you for no reason whatsoever.__"_ Kuroi rolled his eyes.

_"__He won't, but I will! Don't close your eyes when talking to us, YOU LITTLE SHIT!__"_ Shinki roared, and used his shin to kick Hishoji full force in his face.

It was too much for Hishoji, and he collapsed onto the ground as his vision went black once again.

"_Oh look Shinki, you used too much force. Looks like you knocked him out,__"_ Kuroi turned away as a sneer appeared on his face. _"__Of course, this means his body has no one controlling it until he wakes up again.__"_

_"__Have fun.__"_Kuroi disappeared, leaving Shinki all alone with a sadistic look on his face.

_"__Don't you worry about that, dear brother, you know full well I will.__" _Shinki licked his lips._  
><em>

* * *

><p>Shinki flicked his eyes open, and noticed that a girl and a hunter was watching him.<p>

"He's awake!" Ayumi exclaimed in joy. She had been worried sick after Hishoji passed out for no reason at all. "Don't you go fainting on people like that, it's dumb!" She raised her hand to smack Hishoji playfully, but was stopped halfway through by Shinki's hand.

"Who the shit are you?" Shinki hissed, and tossed her away like a rag-doll.

"Ooh, damn." Volt's spine began tingling with fear once again, and he looked at Hishoji with suspicion. He stepped back as Hishoji pushed himself off the floor with a transparent demonic aura around his body. Looking closer, Volt saw that Hishoji's eyes had both turned a full gleaming red, and their pupils had disappeared.

"You there, hunter! Let's have some fun!" Shinki smiled, and rushed forward, delivering a corkscrew punch straight into the chest of Volt. There was a distinct moment where Volt's armor could be heard shattering, and then the impact from the attack sent Volt flying into their neighbor's wall.

"Man, you suck. No competition at all." Shinki cocked his head to one side as Hishoji's neighbor appeared out of his house and began hurling expletives at them from across the yard.

Volt took the chance to dislodge himself from the wall while Shinki was distracted, and knowing that there was no chance he could fight the entity that was inside Hishoji's body, hurried towards Ayumi to check on her.

"Stupid human, did you think you can run away?" Shinki snapped his fingers, and a meteor the size of a truck went crashing into the neighbor's house, obliterating everything, including the poor Basarios which had burrowed itself in the neighbor's yard. A smile of pure evil appeared on Shinki's face. "Oops, I missed."

The blast of air created from the meteor landing on the house sent Volt flying again, only this time he landed close to where Ayumi was. Crawling forward, he nudged Ayumi using the handle of his Switch Axe.

Ayumi woke up a second later, but could only sit on the floor and shake her head as she was still groggy. As her vision got clearer, she saw what 'Hishoji' had done to their neighbor.

"That's enough!" Ayumi picked herself up, the Bowgun in her hand glowing brightly.

"Oh? And what are you gonna do about it, you little shit? Just so you know, I can call a meteor upon the very spot you're standing on right now, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it." Shinki sneered.

"Well, that might be true, but- whoa, what?" The glow from the Bowgun started to spread onto Ayumi's body, and she looked on in confusion her body took on the soft white glow of the Bowgun. No more than a second after this happened, she suddenly turned her attention towards Shinki.

"Just so you know, _brother_, you're going to regret it if you don't let the owner of that body return in five seconds." A very different voice came out of Ayumi's lips as she smiled. Shinki's jaw dropped.

"_You_? This is an abuse of power! Don't think this is over, _dear sister,__" _Shinki spit out the last two words with extreme wrath, and then released his control over Hishoji, causing the his body to drop to the ground in a dead faint once more.

* * *

><p>"And that's about what happened." Volt concluded.<p>

The four of them were gathered around the living room, where Volt had given them a blow-by-blow account of what happened starting after Hishoji lost conscious.

Hishoji and Ayumi listened with great interest, the former with a larger interest than the latter. All he remembered was punching the air twice, and then meeting Shinki and Kuroi. Everything else that happened after that was a dead blank to him. Ayumi did recall 'Hishoji' tossing her away, and then being nudged awake by Volt, but what happened after that was fuzzy.

"I dunno what that was all about, but something was definitely off about the way you delivered the punch, and how much damage it did. No way a simple punch could break through Jinouga armor." Volt gave his Jinouga chest armor a quick glance. There was now a hole the size of a fist in it, and it could do with some repairing.

"Wish I could explain what happened to me, but I did have a weird dream of some sort. Something about confronting two other 'me'-s, one wearing red, the other black. They called each other Shinki and Kuroi respectively." Hishoji held back the part where they thrashed him. It wasn't something he was going to go around telling anyone soon.

"Odd, I had the same dream about confronting "myself" soon after I was awash in the Bowgun's glow. She called herself Shira. She seemed like she was pretty calm, and she was wearing a white robe of some kind with two angel wings on them. Had the voice to match the wings too." Ayumi's eyes shined as she recollected how beautiful Shira looked.

_Damn, why'd she get the angel while I get the devils? Not fair. _Hishoji thought in frustration.

"Anyway, I figured we should ask Mark. This only started _after_ you gave them the weapons," Volt turned to Mark and lifted up his visor, revealing his cold silver eyes. "Talk."

_"If you insist. I took these weapons from the experimental section of a blacksmith in Pokke,"_ Mark turned his screen around to see everyone's faces. _"They are made from the materials of the three Fatalis species."_

Hishoji pouted. He thought the colors Kuroi and Shinki had seemed familiar. Ayumi raised her hand with a puzzled look on her face.

"What's the "Fatalis trio"?"

"The end-game bosses." Hishoji cut in before Mark could answer.

_"...what Hishoji said. Now, Fatalis items were well known for having the power to retain their spirits inside the weapons or armors that were made out of them, and to prevent hunters from falling prey to the spirits, an exorcism was normally conducted before said weapons or armors could be equipped. I had no idea that the ones you're wielding had not been exorcised though."_

"Eh, wait, so that means these weapons are cursed or something?" Ayumi's voice was one of concern.

_"I suppose you could call it that. It would be in our best interest that the weapons are swapped with ones that were exorcised right now, before anything more unfortunate happens."_

A chilly aura filled the house as Shira, Kuroi and Shinki took control over their host's bodies.

"No." The three spoke out in unison.

The aura disappeared as quickly as it came, and both Hishoji and Ayumi blinked in surprise.

"What just happened?" Hishoji and Ayumi exclaimed together.

"Dammit, I swear, speaking in two different tones makes you really creepy, Hishoji." Volt muttered.

_"Well, they refused to leave. Nothing much we can do about it. Seeing as once you don the weapons they essentially become part of you, if you harbor any intentions to send them back, they'll probably have no qualms about killing you on the spot,"_ The two shoulder buttons on Mark clicked as he attempted to simulate someone shrugging. _"Guess they're part of our little group now."_

"You know what, Mark? You've brought us nothing but trouble," Hishoji's voice became dangerously low. "Screw you."

With surprising agility, Hishoji flicked his hand, and Mark was sent flying across the room and out the window.

An audible crack could be heard as the PSP was smashed against the ground at light speed.

_"Ow. That hurt."_

"So," Hishoji's body turned to the other two in the room, his eyes a dark crimson. "Who's hungry?"


	6. Lunch is served

**Author's note : I understand that this is a Monster Hunter fanfic, but it has to include character development and things like that. Not every chapter is a "vs [Monster name]" one. Try to understand, yo.**

**And a****s usual, the warning : This is a direct copy-and-paste (with some parts revised), so if you spot any inconsistencies, please forgive my errors.**

* * *

><p>"So, uh, you're Shinki, right?" Volt asked nervously, the memory of Shinki's armor shattering punch still crystal clear in his mind.<p>

"You mean you forgot my name already? Maybe you should come over here so I can _remind_ you," Shinki began giggling like a child.

"Er, I'd rather stay over here, thank you very much. My instincts tell me to stay as far away from you as possible."

"Suit yourself," Shinki shrugged and stood up. "Where's the nearest place to grab some people to eat? I'm hungry."

"We don't eat other people. That's cannibalism and it's taboo," Ayumi spoke softly, afraid of what Shinki might pull. "Of course, if you're talking about food we eat, that's a different matter altogether."

"Whatever, just get me something to eat before I change my mind about not devouring you guys as snacks."

"Well, if you're serious about this," Ayumi stood up as well, and the loud growl of her stomach made her blush. "Huh, guess I'm a bit hungry too. Haven't eaten anything since morning. Come on, we'll go grab a bite."

"You sure about that, Ayumi? Bringing Hishoji out while Shinki's in control of his body is a bit..._risky_, no?"

"Hello, I'm still here, and I can hear every word you're saying, you shitty excuse for a hunter. Now, move, or _I will burn this entire place down, along with you. And then I will proceed to scatter your ashes amongst lava where you will burn for all eternity._" Shinki exclaimed loudly, the malice in his voice now clear.

Volt opened his mouth to retaliate, but quickly decided against it as flickering flames appeared on Shinki's palm.

"Right...I'll go get Mark." Ayumi headed out, followed shortly by the other two.

* * *

><p>Hishoji opened his eyes and scanned his surroundings. The familiar swirl of colors that he had seen earlier greeted him, and he quickly deducted where he was. Shinki didn't seem to be around though.<p>

"Oh? Well this is unexpected. Why did you come back?" A voice sounded from behind him. Hishoji whirled around and watched as Kuroi materialized in front of him. "No, don't answer that. Let me guess : you got angry with something?_"_

Hishoji nodded silently and gently tapped his foot on the floor. Now that Shinki wasn't beating the crap out of him, there was ample time for him to really take in what was going on in his mind. For one, the "floor", if it even existed, was not even visible. For all he knew, they could be standing on thin air, or even falling through it. Occasionally some images from his past would drift past, although he could not really recall how long ago those memories were formed.

There was also one more thing he noticed. The pain he had received from the earlier thrashing during his first time here seemed to have disappeared. Perhaps when the two attacked him, they were landing attacks on his spiritual body rather than his physical one. Either way, the pain was gone and that was all that really mattered to Hishoji.

"Really, you should learn to control yourself better. It's a sign of weakness if you come here too often," Kuroi clapped his hands, and a cushy sofa appeared in front of him, together with a table with some cups of tea on it. "Come, have a seat. Perhaps you would like some tea as well?"

Hishoji moved forward cautiously and sat down, wondering why Kuroi was so kind to him all of a sudden. Kuroi kept watching him expectantly however, so eventually Hishoji chugged down the entire cup of tea in one gulp.

"It's bland," He stared at the empty cup in his hand as it slowly melted away into nothingness. "And what's with the sudden hospitality?"

"The tea was just something I pulled from your memories, so of course it is tasteless. As for your second question," Kuroi slowly sipped from his cup. "If you don't try to do anything that would piss me off you would find that I'm actually quite nice. Now, since we're here, do you have any burning questions in your mind that you wish to ask me?"

"Yeah. Why is White Fatalis a girl? I mean, look at the model in the game. It has a _beard_."

"Well, why not? Do you think there would only be male Elder Dragons? As equipment, we take on the traits and appearance of the person that equips us."

"Well, since you are one of my weapons, any explanations as to why the blade and spikes hidden within only came out the first time?"

"The first time was a sign of acceptance," He paused and finished his tea. "You carry the blade called "Everlasting Despair" on your left hand, and the fist aptly called "Eternal Wrath" on your right."

"I like this, it's starting to sound like a tutorial on how to play a game. So how do I use them in battle?"

"Each of us in the Fatalis family feed off an emotion. Shinki feeds off rage, which explains why he is always trying to get himself worked up. I personally prefer the sweet taste of fear and despair. As for Shira, I would say she is unique in the sense that she feeds off joy."

"But that doesn't answer my-"

"Don't interrupt, I have not finished," Kuroi shot Hishoji a glare and then continued, "Each of the emotions we feed on gives us more strength, so the stronger the emotion the more strength we get. So the more strength we get in turn, the better your weapon becomes. In your case, the blade and spiked knuckles would appear."

"So you're saying I should go around being paranoid of everything and get angry for no reason at all?" Hishoji raised an eyebrow.

"Not really, it works both ways. For instance, if you manage to get a monster angry or scared enough, we can draw our strength from that as well. The only problem that could occur is if you fail to keep your emotions in check. That is when your consciousness is swapped with one of us, just like what just happened with you and Shinki."

"So how long will this swap with Shinki last, then?"

"Until he gets bored. Unless you have enough fighting spirit to wrest control from him, which I seriously doubt. Speaking of Shinki, shouldn't you start worrying about what he's doing with your body?"

"I'm sure Shira can keep him in check." Hishoji wasn't sure, but Shira had managed to pull it off once after all.

Kuroi turned away and started sipping from another cup of tea.

"Perhaps."

* * *

><p>The four arrived at a ramen restaurant called "Dean's Ramen Paradise" after a couple of minutes' worth of walking. Whilst fairly small and tucked in a corner of a street where most people would unknowingly walk pass it without giving it a second glance, its location was next to Hishoji and Ayumi's school, making it convenient for them to eat there after school.<p>

That being the case, the two of them have known Dean since they were enrolled, and enjoyed hanging out at the stall when they could.

"Gotta love this place," Ayumi smiled as she took in the sweet smell of the ramen being cooked inside. "Sells the best ramen in Yarino City, in my opinion."

"About damn time. Why isn't this shitty place beside your house? Would have been _so_ much more convenient than making us walk all this way," Shinki complained. "This place better have something worth eating, or you guys are next on the menu."

"Right then, I'll go and get us a table." Ayumi tried her best to ignore Shinki and went inside, with the latter following her, leaving Mark and Volt outside.

"It sure is quiet around here." Volt commented, and looked around. The walk to the restaurant had been thus far uneventful, but with the possibility of a monster coming out at any moment, it would be a fool's errant to let down one's guard.

There was not a single one of the mechanical contraptions that Volt had learned was called a "car" in sight on the road, save for two which had been parked opposite the restaurant.

Mark had been quiet for the entire trip. Not that Volt particularly cared. Perhaps he was simply sulking after Shinki tossed him out, or perhaps he knew it would be better if he refrained from speaking to the party for the time being.

Volt turned his attention to the ramen restaurant. He had never seen anyone selling this "ramen" in Yukumo village, and the entire experience was new to him. From the sight of the food people were eating to the smell that drifted out of the restaurant, it was certainly a good change of pace from the constant hunting and training he had to endure back in the village.

Inside the restaurant, Shinki appeared to be having the time of his life making the receptionist's life miserable by pulling on her hair. Although Volt couldn't tell what they were saying through the glass, it was quite clear that Ayumi was trying her best to get Shinki to apologize to the receptionist, but Shinki just seemed to be intent on making the situation worse.

A twig snapped nearby, and Volt's hand instantly went for his weapon. From the foliage of trees nearby, a purple dinosaur head with a frill around it's neck emerged. The Great Jaggi sniffed the air, attempting to pinpoint the location of the scent it caught when the wind blew downhill. Then it disappeared again, although Volt could hear it's footsteps getting closer.

_Shit, there are still people inside the restaurant. If it attacks now...  
><em>

Volt turned and went through the front doors of the restaurant in one big stride, hitting the door against the wall to get everyone's attention. Everyone inside turned their eyes to him at once.

"Jaggi." He said in a booming voice.

There were a few mutterings of "What's a "Jaggi"?", "He's probably crazy." and other lines of disbelief, before the everyone went back to what they were doing before the interruption.

Volt clicked his tongue in frustration at the responses he got from the patrons, then pulled Ayumi over to him.

"Ayumi, we have to get everyone out of here. There's a Great Jaggi outside, and it's probably leading an entire pack of Jaggis alongside it. Hopefully, it won't attack while an entire group of people are running out." He spoke quickly, for there was not a moment to waste.

"Isn't it kind of risky?"

"It's one risk we'll have to take."

"Alright then, we'll go with the easiest way to make everyone leave," Ayumi turned to Shinki, "Shinki, make them all run out in terror or something."

"If it means I get to eat something, then gladly," Shinki jumped on top of a nearby table, and cleared his throat. "Everyone scoot before I light this entire place up. You have five seconds."

A few of the customers left with a disgusted look on their faces. However, the majority of them remained rooted to their seats, and continued eating after a moment.

"Okay people, if you all want to do this the hard way," Shinki jumped down and placed one hand each on the nearby curtain to his left and right. A fiery aura surrounded him for a split second, and a brief moment later the curtains were alight.

"Everyone, get the fuck out."

Not another word needed to be said as all the diners and employees made a beeline for the exit, and screams of "demon" and the likes were screamed at Shinki as they ran past him.

Dean himself came out of the toilet just in time to witness the last customer leaving. He stood there for a few seconds, completely flabbergasted and not sure what to make of the situation. Then he pointed an accusing finger at the trio standing by the door.

"Ayumi! Hishoji! And the guy with the weird fashion sense! What's the bloody meaning of this?"

"Sorry, Dean. This is for the good of everyone." Ayumi spoke softly and loaded her Bowgun as the footsteps of the Great Jaggi and its minions got louder.

"Shinki, put out the fire or we're not going to have a place to eat at." Volt begun sharpening his Switch Axe.

The flames in the restaurant began to dissipate as the Great Jaggi finally appeared on the other side of the restaurant's window, followed by roughly ten Jaggis. Shinki cracked his knuckles as the spikes hidden inside Eternal Wrath began to appear. He grinned, revealing two rows of sharp, shiny teeth.

"Lunchtime."


	7. Outnumbered : VS Great Jaggi!

**Author's note: This is the chapter the god modding begins. It was pretty fun though. Overkill on the line breaks, but you can probably get what's going on.  
><strong>

**And a****s usual, the warning. This is a direct copy-and-paste (with some parts revised), so if you spot any inconsistencies, please forgive my errors.**

* * *

><p>The Great Jaggi noticed the three hunters inside the restaurant, and ceased moving. The Jaggi following it also came to a standstill, although there were a few nervous and excited squeaks amongst them.<p>

"Why is it staring at us like that? It's getting unnerving." Ayumi said in a hushed tone.

"They're probably sizing us up. Let's move back. _Slowly_. Engaging it at the entrance could put us at a disadvantage if it summons more Jaggis." Volt replied.

"You chickening out? Pfft, some hunter you are," Shinki mocked Volt and moved closer to the entrance. "Come on suckers, who's first?"

The Great Jaggi let out a low growl, then barked out an order. As one, the entire group began to retreat back from where they had initially appeared.

"Wait, what? Now THEY are running away too? Little shits, get back here!" Shinki began heading for the exit, but was held back by Volt.

"It's a blatantly obvious trap. You can't be serious about wanting to chase them."

"Don't. Touch. Me." A fiery gale blasted Volt off his feet and sent him crashing into a nearby table.

"This urge to kill is something is starting to get to me," He turned his head towards Ayumi as she gasped at his pulsating eyes. "I think I'll settle for you first, before going after them."

Volt instantly sprung back into action from the table, and stepped between Shinki and Ayumi with his Switch Axe out.

"Not on my watch."

The two glared at each other before Shinki smiled ominously.

"Fine. You'll do as well."

* * *

><p>"<span>Ah, now they've done it. Shinki's pissed off now,<span>" Kuroi said nonchalantly while sipping from his fifth cup of tea. "It takes either great courage or stupidity, or perhaps a mix of both, to stand between Shinki and his prey."

"Prey?" Hishoji raised an eyebrow, then quickly frowned. "Hey don't change the subject, help me out here! Is there really absolutely no way of forcing Shinki to hand back control to me?"

"I didn't say that there was absolutely no way of getting back in control. In fact, I actually do have a plan right now. I must warn you though. The risks involved are great."

"I don't care, anything to get back in control!" Hishoji began raising his voice.

"Very well then," Kuroi finished his sixth and final cup, and stood up as a silhouette of a Black Fatalis hung overhead him.

The Fatalis lowered its head until it was face to face with Hishoji, and snarled.

"Come, Hishoji," The voice that emerged from the Fatalis sent chills up Hishoji's spine, and he found his legs starting to tremble uncontrollably. "Let us indulge in your greatest fears."

* * *

><p>Volt tightened his grip on his weapon, and Ayumi took aim at Shinki with her Bowgun.<p>

__It won't do any of us any good if Shinki persists with this attitude of his.__ He steadied his breathing. _I might not be able to defeat him, but I sure can try._

Shinki walked forward a few paces, and then suddenly appeared to gag. At the same time, the spikes inside Eternal Wrath slowly retracted back into the red glove.

"Hrk, Brother...what are you playing at?" Shinki's voice came out as a rasp, the usual malice in his tone completely gone.

"Huh?" A confused Ayumi lowered her weapon. She had initially planned on asking Shira for help, but the weird outburst from Shinki made her stop.

"Keep your guard up. Might be some sort of trick." Volt instructed. Ayumi raised her Bowgun once again at Shinki, who was now randomly throwing himself against nearby tables.

"I apologize, brother dear. Hishoji requested that you return control of this body back to him at once." Kuroi's voice emerged from the same mouth which Shinki had used seconds earlier.

A spooked Dean began panicking. First dinosaurs in his restaurant, then his long-time customers had ruined his life's work, and now one of said customer had a split personality?

"This is too much for one day." He shook his head and sat down on a chair beside him, wiping beads of perspiration away from his forehead with a tissue.

"Don't worry Dean, you'll get used to it. Probably." Ayumi called out to him.

"I sure hope so." He looked at Hishoji still wildly destroying his restaurant.

"Hishoji that little shit! He's going to regret doing this!" Shinki's voice was getting weaker with every word.

"I'm pretty sure he knew the risks he was taking when he opted for this choice. Goodbye." In contrast, Kuroi's voice was getting much louder.

Shinki seemed to take an invisible hit to his forehead as his head tilted dramatically backwards, and then returned back to his normal position, although the once crimson eyes were now replaced by black ones which looked like they came from a never-ending abyss.

"Why, hello," Kuroi bowed his head before Ayumi and Volt. "I believe we have not met before in person. My name is Kuroi. I'm quite sure you know this already, but the one earlier was my brother."

"Um, hi there?" Ayumi scratched her head. "This is getting hopelessly confusing."

"I know, I'm starting to feel a headache coming up already." Volt agreed.

"I can relate," Kuroi walked around the restaurant for a moment, then stopped near the backdoor turned to the two. "Well then, I'll return control of this body back to-"

**"All in formation? We have them surrounded, yes?"**

"Pardon me? Did you say something?" Volt and Ayumi looked at each other and shook their heads. "Odd, I could have sworn-"

**"On my mark. Three."**

Kuroi narrowed his eyes and looked around. The source of the voice seemed to be coming from somewhere beyond the backdoor. Perhaps the two didn't hear the voice because they were standing in the middle of the restaurant.

**"Two."**

"Ready your weapons." Everlasting Despair emerged with a loud swishing sound from Kuroi's left hand, the runes on it pulsing with an ancient darkness. "You and the girl, to the front."

A puzzled Volt and Ayumi sensed something amiss, and did as they were told.

**"One."**

"You. Hide." He pointed to Dean, who was more than happy to comply by heading back into the management room. Kuroi turned towards the backdoor with his blade in position.

**"ATTACK!"**

In an instant, an entire horde of Jaggis smashed through the entrance and backdoor simultaneously, flooding the entire restaurant. Ayumi began firing on instinct, nailing one of them with a direct shot to the head. Volt used the superior reach of his Switch Axe to his advantage, swinging wildly and dealing fatal wounds to the Jaggis that went too close to him.

"Volt, what's the best bullet for taking care of all of them at once?" Ayumi asked in desperation as the Jaggis slowly inched closer despite her firing as fast as she could. She had picked a bullet labelled 'Normal lv3' earlier when she loaded the Bowgun, but the bullet did not seem to be effective against handling such a large mob.

"Try Pellet shots."

"Okay!" Ayumi placed her fingers in her bag and began feeling around while Volt covered her from the attacking Jaggi. She drew out a bone husk with "Pellet lv3" inscribed on it, and loaded it into her Bowgun.

"Eat this!" Ayumi pulled the trigger, releasing multiple shrapnel shots into the air. The attack sent four Jaggis directly in front of her flying. Unfortunately, the bullets somehow bounced off some nearby tables, and both Ayumi and Volt found themselves bending down to avoid the stray fire.

"Dammit, aim properly!" Volt grunted as a stray bullet hit his helmet and slightly dented it. Then he noticed the two Great Jaggis striding towards them from the entrance of the restaurant. "Sonovabitch."

* * *

><p>Kuroi was prepared beforehand, and took out the first five Jaggis that emerged through the backdoor without much trouble. The sixth attempted to lunge itself at him with jaws agape, but found its teeth completely shattered upon biting Kuroi's sword arm.<p>

"It's useless. Don't you know that you can never hope to match the armor skin of a Fatalis with those pathetic fangs of yours?" He smirked and sliced the surprised Jaggi's head off, before turning around and impaling another Jaggi behind him through its skull.

_From behind? Don't tell me that they've lost already..._ Kuroi surveyed the situation inside the restaurant. Ayumi and Volt were surrounded in a circle by the Jaggis that were swarming them. _Nay, they can handle themselves. That hunter has enough training._

He turned towards the backdoor once again and went through it to find himself in a narrow alleyway, surrounded by Jaggis on both side.

"Oh, crude. Perhaps I should have let Shinki handle this instead. Well, don't have much a choice here anyway." He shifted into his attack stance as an idea hit him. "Let's have a bet. If you guys can touch as much as one strand of hair on this body, I'll concede defeat and let you guys kill me. If I win, you all lose your life. How about it?"

He turned with a bored expression towards the nearest Jaggi, who howled at him. The howl was imitated by the entire group of twenty odd Jaggis in the alley.

"I knew you guys won't let me down. Let the fun begin."

* * *

><p>"Ayumi! Aim at those Great Jaggis!"<p>

"I-I'll try." Ayumi found her hands shaking. Watching her brother play video games and killing monsters were one thing, but to be in an actual battle against real monsters was another. She struggled to aim with her scope as the two Great Jaggis approached them.

"Tch, didn't thought I would have to use this. Cover your eyes!" Volt reached into his bag and took out a small glass bottle with some liquid and an odd yellow insect inside it. He tossed it onto the ground, shattering the glass and releasing a bright blinding light.

Ayumi heard the warning from Volt a bit too late though, and the bright light dazzled her eyes.

* * *

><p>"Oh." Ayumi blinked. From the looks of things, the light had sent her to the place she called her "Mind Dimension". This was where she had first met Shira, and she assumed that Hishoji had met Kuroi and Shinki the same way as well. All around her were clouds that resembled gigantic marshmallows. She jumped onto one and waited.<p>

_"__Hello again,__"_ Shira appeared beside her as she expected. It had been like this the first time they met earlier as well. Shira turned to her, and Ayumi found herself marveling at how beautiful Shira has managed to make her appearance. _"__I can feel your fear of the monsters even from here. You need to more confidence in yourself.__"_

"Yeah, I do, huh?" Ayumi found herself looking away as she remembered her hands quivering as she tried to take aim earlier. "Wish I wasn't scared so easily."

_"__Just remember, should you require assistance, don't be afraid to ask.__"_ She smiled and patted Ayumi on her head. _"__By the way, don't you have a battle to finish?__"_

* * *

><p>When the light cleared, Ayumi found herself looking at Volt who was sharpening his Switch Axe.<p>

"Don't worry, we're in the clear for about ten seconds. Don't stare at me, start firing!" He ordered.

Ayumi nodded and took aim at the Great Jaggis, her aim now steady. Although the bullets hit them multiple times, they were not sent flying like the normal Jaggis. The bullets were embedded in their soft flesh though, and from the looks on their faces it was obvious they were in severe pain.

"Alright, screw pellet. Use crag." Volt instructed as he finished sharpening his weapon. "Level one should be enough. When I give the order, run as far away as possible from the bullet, then get down."

Ayumi rummaged through her bag and loaded her gun with the bone husk inscribed with "Crag lv1", and shot it without hesitation at one of the Great Jaggis which had just recovered from the flash-bomb. The bullet latched itself onto the nose, and began to shake a little.

"Huh? What's that supposed to-"

"RUN FOR IT!" Volt picked Ayumi up by her hand and pulled her towards the backdoor. The few Jaggis that blocked their way were easily handled with a swift kick to their faces.

The rest of the Jaggis cheered in joy at what they thought were the hunters retreating. The Great Jaggi shot with the crag raised its head to give a howl of victory-

And then the crag bullet began to vibrate at high speed, before taking the first Great Jaggi's head and the remaining Jaggis' lives in an explosion of brains, skulls, eyeballs and gore.

* * *

><p>Kuroi walked slowly along the alley, the blood stains on his clothes disappearing into pixels. As he had anticipated, none of the Jaggis got any closer than three feet near him before they were mutilated in some fashion. The same couldn't be said for their blood though.<p>

**"Team, report in! Squad A, squad B, report! Where is everyone?"**The voice sounded from around the corner.

Kuroi hurried forward as Everlasting Despair slid out from his hand once more. He swerved around the corner, and as he had expected, saw another Great Jaggi. Only, this one was different from the others. Aside from the golden glint in its eyes, it could also _speak_.

**"What the- how did you find me?"**The Great Jaggi snarled and readied its legs for a pounce attack.

"Simple, you were talking too loudly. Then again, I guess if you didn't then you couldn't have commandeered the entire group, could you?"

**"A little know-it-all, aren't you?"**

"I know enough, that's for sure. You're one of the Awakened, correct? Because I am one too."

**"YOU, an Awakened? Don't make me laugh, you measly human."** The Great Jaggi faced the sky and let out a howl. **"All units, retreat! I repeat, all units, retreat!"**

"I won't bother with that if I were you. Your entire battalion is gone." Kuroi raised his sword hand. "A piece of advice, you should really stop looking towards the sky every single time you speak. It renders your already vulnerable throat even more vulnerable."

**"What do you know-"**

The Awakened Great Jaggi never got any farther before Kuroi sliced him cleanly through the throat all the way down to his tail. It let out a pathetic gurgle before it was cut into two.

"You talk _way_ too much." The blade retracted back into Kuroi's hand. "Awakened, hm? I wonder how many more are out there...?"


	8. The Awakened

**Author's note: This chapter has quite a lot of explaining. Not as much comedy. It's serious business. Also, I know I'm not good with description, so try to play things out in your head.**

**And as usual, the warning. This is a direct copy-and-paste (with some parts revised), so if you spot any inconsistencies, please forgive my errors.**

* * *

><p>Back in the colorful "Mind Dimension" of Hishoji, Kuroi had been replaced by Shinki when they swapped. Shinki saw Hishoji in front of him and didn't waste his chance, landing a quick punch on the latter's face that sent him flying.<p>

"Looks like someone needs to be disciplined," Shinki growled, walking forward and holding Hishoji up by his hair. "Calling on that brother of mine to swap with me, and just when it was lunchtime too. Did Kuroi not tell you that you should never get between me and my prey?"

Shinki didn't give Hishoji a chance to answer, and tossed him onto the floor like an unwanted toy. He then brought his foot down heavily on Hishoji's head before stomping on it multiple times. Hishoji's vision began to dim with each blow.

"Hey hey, don't faint on me yet. I've got a special treat for you! Ever wondered what eyeballs taste like?" Shinki grinned, and flipped Hishoji over.

Hishoji screamed as he felt Shinki's fingers work their way inside his left eye, then slowly begin to gouge it out. Despite his cries of pain, Shinki continued what he was doing with a sadistic smile on his face. Hishoji's left eye finally dislodged with a little _pop_sound, and his blood gushed freely from the gaping hole that once used to contain his eyeball.

"Open the hell up." Shinki sneered and forced the eyeball into Hishoji's mouth. "Now chew."

Hishoji was helpless and did as he was told, forcing himself to chew the slimy eyeball. It tasted absolutely revolting, and the blood that was still flowing out from the wound was making it worse. He finally swallowed after a few seconds, and immediately regretted doing so. It came back up nearly as quickly as it went down, alongside whatever it was that Hishoji had ate for yesterday's dinner.

"Aww, you dirtied the floor. Too bad, now you have to lick it up. ALL OF IT._" _Shinki laughed.

__This is much worse than before...__ Hishoji tried crawling away from Shinki, only to have the latter grab his arm and twist it into an awkward position. Hishoji howled in pain and looked at Shinki. His face suggested that he wasn't kidding about the "licking the puke up" part. _Kuroi, you told me you would swap back immediately...what the hell are you doing?_

* * *

><p>"Are you alright?" Volt picked himself up and headed over to Ayumi. They had both dived out of the restaurant at the same moment the Crag bullet exploded. While Volt was fine as the Jinouga armor had absorbed the impact of flying a couple of feet, Ayumi did not have anything to protect her, and as such had grazed herself in several places.<p>

"Yeah. It hurts a little, but nothing I can't handle," She stumbled to her feet and looked back into the restaurant. "Did we get all of them?"

"I think so, it's been a while since I heard anything as much as a growl from inside." He walked over and checked the inside of the restaurant. Majority of the chairs were overturned, and in the middle of the restaurant was a large black mark where the Crag bullet had exploded. The remains of the Jaggis were splattered all over the walls, but already they were starting to disappear into pixels.

"I guess that confirms that they're all dead." Volt turned towards the management room and knocked. "Dean, you still in there?"

"Yes, and I heard something like an explosion. Is everything over yet?" A muffled voice replied.

"Kinda, but this place will need some cleaning up after this."

"How much "cleaning up" are we talking about here?" Dean was beginning to sound suspicious.

"A lot." Volt sighed.

"Alright, let me just-" Dean opened the door and his eyes widened instantly. "What the heck happened?"

Ayumi watched quietly as Volt tried his best to pacify Dean. The sound of footsteps sounded to her left, and she turned to find Kuroi looking at her. His clothes were stained red with blood that didn't somehow wasn't returning to their original pixel form.

"We have a problem. Where is that device that Hishoji likes to play with everyday?"

"Uh, I'm not too sure either. I haven't seen Mark since Volt made his dramatic entrance into the restaurant."

"Right. Stop hiding." Kuroi's tone suggested that he was serious. Mark floated out reluctantly from the torso armor Volt was wearing. Ayumi and Dean both winced in disgust.

"What the?" Volt exclaimed in surprise. "I KNEW there was something odd about the weight of my armor..."

Kuroi, however, did not seem to be in a mood for jokes.

"The one I killed. He was one of the Awakened. You know something about this, don't you?" His eyes narrowed.

_"Huh? They are here too?"_

"Of course they are. _You_ let them out."

_"That can't be right. Look, um, if you did kill an Awakened, shouldn't we hurry to its corpse before it vanishes?"_

"Well, you do have a point. But I still expect an explanation after this." Kuroi whirled around and headed towards the alley again. "Follow me."

The foursome began to head deeper in, leaving Dean behind to clean up the restaurant alone with a confused look on his face.

* * *

><p>"So, what's this about an Awakened?" Ayumi couldn't contain her curiosity any longer, and finally shot out the question.<p>

"I guess you could say that they're something of a leader amongst the leaders of monsters. They came to be from an internal conflict amongst monsters from the second and third generation. Some have special powers, others are merely physically or mentally stronger than the rest of their species. You could easily tell them apart since only the Awakened one can talk." Kuroi answered.

"How many of them are there? I've never encountered any talking monsters before in my previous hunts." Volt asked, his voice skeptical. "And what happens should they die?"

"There can only be one Awakened in every species, and not every species have them. The only exception to this rule goes to those in the Fatalis family. We get one Awakened for each of our subspecies," Kuroi paused and considered Volt's second question.

"Only very rarely would a human chance upon an Awakened. And out of those occasions I know only a select few who survived an encounter, so chances of an Awakened dying from a hunt are low. Should they be that unfortunate though, their deaths should be mourned. Another Awakened _could_ appear, but chances of that happening are close to zero."

"Hang on, you said only the Awakened ones could talk, right? And since you said that Fatalis family gets one Awakened for each color, does that mean you, Shira and Shinki are one of them?" Ayumi asked, one of her eyebrows arched in the air.

"You're a sharp one. Yes, the three of us, we're all Awakened. In fact, one could say that we started this entire internal conflict. It happened not too soon after the three of us banished our distant cousin Alatreon from the Elder Dragons after we discovered that he wanted to reign supreme over all of Minegarde. This made him extremely upset, and he started a revolt with the monsters from the Yukumo region."

Kuroi's eyes held the look of sorrow as he relived his past through his words.

"We would have won eventually if we gathered all of the Awakened Elder Dragons and went out to war, but the Pokke region monsters had suffered immeasureable casualties at the hands of the more advanced Yukumo monsters. Rather than see all of them die, Shira decided to surrender to Alatreon."

"Wait, I don't get it," Volt interrupted Kuroi. "If you guys could have won, why didn't you guys just fly out and wipe Alatreon's army out or something? Why surrender?"

"Because the combined power of the Awakened Elder Dragons wouldn't have just wiped out Alatreon, it would have decimated _all_ of Minegarde. The balance between humans and monsters would have been completely broken by our interruption. Alatreon, being so drunk in power, naturally failed to see how important that balance was."

"What happened after you guys surrendered?" Ayumi was getting slightly excited now. This was like listening to a piece of history that was never uncovered. Inside her mind however, she could feel the sadness emitting from Shira.

"Alatreon made it his top priority to banish the three of us the instant he obtained control of Pokke. None of the Awakened could offer any kind of help, perhaps because of their fear of Alatreon. Even the Elder Dragons were threatened with complete extermination of their species should they as much as raise a finger against him," Kuroi let out a long, drawn out sigh. "The three of us were forced to go into hiding, until the day we were slain by a lone hunter."

"A _single _hunter took out the three of you?" Volt sounded incredulous.

"Yes, a single hunter. I cannot recall if it was a female or male, nor what weapons were used though. But even after our deaths, our spirits lived on. After all, are we not 'alive' now, in a sense?"

The four of them stopped moving, having arrived at the Awakened Great Jaggi's corpse. Volt went forward and prodded the lower half with his Switch Axe. Instead of fizzling away, the corpse remained there on the ground.

"Nice kill." Volt gave Kuroi a thumbs up. "Must have been really howling a lot if you managed to cut through it from the throat though."

"Indeed. Quite a chatterbox, this one," Kuroi turned to Mark. "Do whatever it is you're supposed to do."

The screen of the PSP began to glow, and with a flash of light the Awakened Great Jaggi was gone, along with the blood that was on Kuroi's clothes.

"Now then, why are the Awakened here? I seem to recall you telling us while we were with that blacksmith that this was a world unpolluted by Alatreon's doings."

Mark sighed and floated upwards, and then came back down into Kuroi's palm.

_"Alright look, I did say that, but I only told those amongst the Awakened Elder Dragons of Unite about this world. There is no way Alatreon's group could have heard anything about this place, unless someone leaked the information out. To be frank, I was sort of surprised myself when the monsters from Yukumo started appearing out of my screen."_

"You _dare_ accuse one of us from the Elder Dragon family of being a traitor?"

_"Yes, I do. If you actually stop and think about it, how many from your so called "family" are actually dependable?"_

There was an awkward pause as Kuroi considered Mark's words.

"That makes a fair point. With the Awakened here there is no doubt Alatreon is among them as well, and should he learn of our existence he will use every trick in the book to make life hell for us. With this being an unknown world, Alatreon will not hesitate to send Awakened after us," He turned to Ayumi and Volt and folded his arms. "And we do not have a way of finding out how many monsters from Pokke had sworn allegiance to Alatreon during our period of absence due to our deaths."

"You know what I think? We should just hunt down whatever decides to come at us, and ask questions later. I'm pretty sure who they are loyal to would be revealed when we engage them." Volt spoke his mind.

"A simple solution, hm? I suppose that could work. But this goes against the exact reason we surrendered to Alatreon in the first place. In the worst case scenario we may have to kill every Awakened we come across. However, if they are loyal to Alatreon...then we have no choice," Kuroi's eyes shined with a dark flame. "Then it's settled. Sorry for causing you this much trouble. I'm sure you guys want Hishoji back. Goodbye."

Kuroi closed his pitch-black eyes, and when they reopened, the pupils had returned to their original places which implied that Hishoji was back in control. Only, he appeared to be going berserk, and was rolling around on the floor screaming incomprehensible words.

After a few seconds of whimpering, Hishoji looked around and noticed that he was back on Earth, away from the sadist inside his mind.

"Bloody hell, I'm never letting Kuroi take over and leave me alone with Shinki again. EVER. I'm free! FREE!" Hishoji started running around punching the air and laughing in joy.

_The heck happened to him?_ Ayumi wondered.

_Shinki happened._Shira replied in her mind.

"Fair enough." She muttered, and turned to head back to the restaurant. "Let's go back, guys."

* * *

><p>"So there are monsters wandering around town now?" Dean asked after the group explained the situation to him.<p>

"Yeah, and sorry about the restaurant, we'll make it up to you somehow." Ayumi replied.

"Well, if it was before I'd just laugh it off and say you all got a couple of screw loose in your heads, but after seeing those...things...I guess I don't have much of a choice but to believe you guys, huh?"

"Don't worry about it, if anything bad ever happens here you can be sure we'll be there to help you." Ayumi smiled.

"Well then, now that that's solved, what's for dinner?" Hishoji sauntered in from outside. "I'm suddenly feeling very hungry. Maybe it's because we had nothing to eat all day and I just vomited whatever was left inside of me after that torture session by Shinki."

"Okay then," Dean laughed jovially, "I guess this one's on the house for saving it from those dinosaur things." He headed off towards the kitchen.

"Torture session?" Ayumi said as Hishoji sat down beside her and Volt.

"Yeah, didn't I mention it earlier? Doesn't matter anyway, I didn't feel anything after Shinki tore my brain out of my skull and littered big fat maggots from nowhere onto my body."

Ayumi made a face.

"I think I just lost my appetite..."

* * *

><p>Several hours later, the team of three sat down on the sofa in the living room of Hishoji and Ayumi's house. Night had fallen, and outside the house it was quiet, with not even a cicada chirping. Inside the house, it was quiet as well, as Hishoji took in the information about the Awakened. Mark had went to "sleep" earlier than the other three, although no one really knows if he ever does needs sleep.<p>

"So Alatreon's kinda like the big bad boss behind this entire thing?" Hishoji didn't like what he was hearing. Fighting an Elder Dragon that had control over every element in Monster Hunter didn't sound like a good idea.

"I guess so." Ayumi answered.

"Okay, but if that's true, and if even one monster siding with Alatreon had seen what Kuroi had done to those Jaggis, won't they know that the Awakened Fatalis trio are still alive? What's stopping them from attacking us anytime?" Hishoji worriedly asked.

"You know, that's a good question," Volt replied, "But hell, they'll take some time to prepare right? All we have to do is cut them down with our weapons while they're doing that."

"True, but still, I've got an ominous feeling about this," Hishoji stood up. "Well, I guess it won't help for us to worry so much. I'm going off to-"

The ground suddenly began to shake before Hishoji could finish his sentence. Hishoji held onto the dining table to keep balance, as did Ayumi. Volt simply remained sitting where he was. The shaking wasn't intense though, and it was over in a minute. Majority of the things in the house remained where they were after it was over, with the exception of a few books.

"Earthquake, huh?" Hishoji let go of the table. It had held firm throughout the whole earthquake. "Funny though, we don't normally get them much in Yarino City."

A sharp ringing sliced through the air, and Ayumi went over and picked up the phone. She muttered "yes" a few times, and then an expression of shock quickly appeared on her face. She tossed the cordless phone over to Hishoji.

Hishoji checked the display on the phone. It showed his mother's cellphone number. He cautiously placed the phone to his ear.

"Uh, hello?"

"Hello? Are you related to Mr and Mrs Kariel?" The voice on the other end was unfamiliar.

"Yeah, I'm their son. Who're you?"

"Yeah, I'm using your mum's cellphone to call you. Your parents were involved in an accident, and I just sent the both of them over to the hospital. You should hurry over, the situation looks bleak for both of them."

Hishoji looked from Volt to Ayumi. He had to stay calm. He can't feel fear. Because if he does, Kuroi will take over again, leaving him and Shinki alone in his mind. He had done a considerable job so far trying to stay happy and relaxed so that he wouldn't feel fear, but the call was beginning to cause him to feel afraid for his parents' lives.

_You can't escape me forever you know,_ Shinki taunted him in his head. _Soon, we'll meet each other again. And when that happens..._

"...Shit."


	9. Rage overwhelming : VS Rajang!

**Author's Note: Eh, you probably know already, but italics and underline without quotes is Shinki/Kuroi/Shira speaking inside Hishoji/Ayumi's mind. With quotes is them speaking out loud. This chapter is serious business as well. Probably.**

**And as usual, the warning. This is a direct copy-and-paste (with some parts revised), so if you spot any inconsistencies, please forgive my errors.**

* * *

><p>"<span>Oh look, you're sleeping. I wonder how you can still that when this is going to happen?<span>" Shinki hissed into Hishoji's ears.

"What the heck?" Hishoji looked around with a bewildered expression on his face. He was trapped in a guillotine that had been set alight. The flames licked at his face, and Hishoji could feel his skin getting burned off with every passing second.

"This is what you get when you get on my bad side. Hahaha! Fun, fun, FUN!"

The guillotine blade dropped without warning, beheading Hishoji with a sickening sound as it made contact with his neck.

* * *

><p>Hishoji's eyes flew open instantly. He breathed heavily as he looked around and took in the unfamiliar surroundings. The white beds and walls, coupled with the continuous beeping of the life support machine slowly calmed him down and reminded him of where he was.<p>

He turned his attention to the two patients lying on their beds in the room. Ayumi was fast asleep with her head on the bed their mother was lying in. Even in her sleep her face was full of sorrow, and Hishoji suspected that she had cried herself to sleep.

Hishoji shifted uncomfortably in his chair as his eyes flicked from Ayumi to their parents. Even the doctors were baffled with their parents' comatose state, for they couldn't find anything physically wrong with them.

And to make the entire matter even more confusing, the police couldn't provide them with any information about what had caused the entire accident, for they were just as confused with the whole thing. From what little he learned, their parents were on their way home after their trip, and something had happened to them that caused their car to get crushed flat.

_It doesn't even make any sense. If the car was crushed flat, how did they manage to get out alive without being crushed too? _He got up and stood near the window, observing the empty field outside. The moon's rays slowly shined down upon him.

_Why the shit are you thinking so much? Hurry up and start getting angry or something! Oh wait, you can't! You can't feel anything or you'll risk meeting me again, right? Ahahaha!_

And as if the trauma from his parent's conditions weren't enough, Shinki's annoying voice was constantly in his head, taunting him. Shinki wasn't wrong though, for Hishoji had spent the past few hours with a blank state of mind, even while the doctors were explaining the situation to him and Ayumi. Volt had tried to comfort the both of them, but Hishoji merely shrugged him off, and Ayumi had just nodded despondently.

_So how was that nightmare just now? You know that I can make you have a different death every night in your dreams right? Hehe, this is so fun I can't even stop myself!_

_Shut up._

Shinki was starting to sound extremely irritating, and it was beginning to get on Hishoji's nerves. He took a deep breathe to calm himself. He hasn't drunk much water the entire day, and now his throat was positively parched. He turned and headed for the door. As he approached it, Volt opened it from the other side.

"Hey, there you are. You sure you okay?" Volt asked, the concern in his voice obvious. After all, hunters often lose people they know and love to monsters on a daily basis, so Volt could understand what Hishoji was going through. Of course, the difference here was that getting caught by a monster would give you near zero chance of survival, and Hishoji's parents had something Yukumo Village did not : technology.

"What do you want?" Hishoji was in no mood to answer Volt's question.

"Come on, I'm worried about you," Volt frowned underneath his helmet. "If you need someone to talk to, I'm always here."

"Whatever." Hishoji tried to push his way through Volt.

"You really shouldn't keep your feelings all clammed up inside. It's not good for your mental health."

"Trust me, I don't want this either. This is the closest I can get to feeling anything negative."

_Haha, ain't that the truth._

_I said shut up._

Volt stepped aside, allowing Hishoji to exit the ward. The latter turned to face him as he passed the hunter.

"I really don't think you should be near Ayumi now. Me and her, we both could do with some alone time."

"Right."

Hishoji nodded, and went down the corridor to the venting machine.

Despite Hishoji's advice however, Volt decided to enter the ward to look at the condition of the two patients inside.

He went beside them, and blinked. Both of them looked perfectly fine, and there wasn't as much as a single scratch on them.

"I thought it might have been a monster," He mumbled. "So much for that theory."

* * *

><p>Hishoji looked at the choices of drinks in front of him. None of them looked particularly appealing in his current mindset, but it wasn't like he cared. His finger stopped halfway through pressing the button as a warm breeze blew slowly around the corridor.<p>

Hishoji turned his head to look at where the breeze had come from. There were no windows down the corridor, but the breeze was causing his hair to stand on their ends. He had this awkward feeling that he had felt this sensation before.

_No, you have not felt this before. You're getting this memory from me. Sister dear hit me with lightning too many times for me to forget it,_ Shinki sounded quite serious for once. _Although this voltage is too low for it to be her. I think it's coming from that way._

Hishoji found his body moving of its own accord down the corridor.

_What the hell, I didn't feel any emotions, how did you manage to-_

_There is a strong amount of rage in the air, and it's just enough for me to take over. _Shinki replied quickly.

Hishoji turned the corner, approaching the exit at a dramatic speed. The receptionist gave a puzzled look at him as he went past, but otherwise did not attempt to stop him.

* * *

><p>"Whoa, static? Here?" Volt looked down at his Jinouga armor in confusion as it began to glow softly. He had slain too many Jinougas to create this armor, and the memory of the static they created when they charged themselves up was imprinted in his mind. The glow began to get brighter, and the Jinouga fur started to stand up. "This much static?"<p>

Ayumi found herself waking up after the glow hit her.

"What are you doing?" She rubbed her eyes, and looked at Volt's glowing armor with surprise. The glow was creating an odd tingling sensation on her skin.

"Something's out there." Volt replied, heading to the window. As he expected, there was a silhouette of something moving about on the empty field outside, although the moonlight wasn't bright enough to reveal what was. "And judging from its size, it's not human."

* * *

><p>Hishoji found himself turning left, heading for the open field behind the hospital. The spikes of Eternal Wrath begun to appear, and Shinki seemed to be taking more of his body over by the second.<p>

_This suspense is killing me! Who is it that is emitting such rage?_ Shinki's voice inside Hishoji's mind was beginning to get louder. On the other hand, Hishoji found his vision beginning to fade as Shinki hijacked his body.

When they finally arrived at the field, Hishoji tried to take one last look at what was powerful enough to give Shinki the power to take over his body. The black shadow standing some twenty meters away sniggered, and then Shinki took complete control.

**"So you've finally arrived. I was getting tired of waiting." **The figure moved forward, revealing a muscular torso, equally muscular arms and two grayish horns, accompanied by two red eyes and a body full of black fur. The creature's face resembled a bull of sorts, and several fangs jutted out of its mouth.

"You look awfully familiar. What was the name for your species again...ah shit, I can't remember. Remind me again?"

**"So it's true, then? The Awakened Fatalis Trio really ****_had_**** gone ahead and gotten themselves a bunch of weak humans to be their vessels. But then, what else could I have expected from monsters who had gotten themselves slain by said humans?"**

"Your name, motherfucker, what is it?" Shinki clenched both of his fists.

**"It's truly sad to see what used to be legends amongst monsters reduced to this state. As much as I hate to say it, I'm sure Alatreon's army is doing much better. At least I can be sure they don't rely on humans." **The monster clenched its right fist as well.

"Fine then, ignore my question. Let the fists do the talking, eh?" Shinki leaped forward and threw his left arm forward, as the monster in front did the same with its right.

As both fists made contact with each other, the impact sent a small shock wave rippling along the floor, causing the grass to shake violently. Neither party was willing to give way to the other, resulting in a stalemate.

"You're...on par with my strength?" Shinki sounded surprised. Not many monsters could resist an attack from him, and even lesser could unleash their own attack to cancel out his. His memory slowly placed the monster's name. "Why are you here, _Rajang_?"

**"Is it not obvious enough? I came to inform you of my alignment change. At the very least I came here to say it in front of your face."**

"You would dare to commit treason on us?"

**"Don't make it sound so bad, it's not like I'm joining Alatreon or something. Remaining neutral in this war seems the only logical solution. Besides, I only made this decision after confirming that the rumors were true."**

"Rumors?"

**"A Vespoid saw someone that had the same aura as the legendary Black Fatalis killing Jaggis this afternoon. It informed its queen, who in turn told everyone. The news soon spread like wildfire, and by now almost every monster from Pokke is in an uproar."**

"Kuroi, you idiot. Hide your aura properly next time," Shinki muttered softly. He had watched the entire battle during the Jaggi attack through Kuroi's eyes while he was torturing Hishoji, and he had not spotted anything suspicious. Looking back, he _had_ noticed a flutter of wings in a nearby tree back in the alley, but had assumed that it was merely a bird of some sort.

_I had assumed the same, brother._ Kuroi replied to him in Shinki's mind. _Now might be a good __chance to get some information. Ask him about the Elder Dragons._

Shinki clicked his tongue. He didn't like to do the job of gathering information, but this was a golden opportunity after all. "When you said every monster, does that include the Elder Dragons?"

**"That would be for you to find out,"** The Rajang hopped backwards and turned his back to Shinki. **"I'll take my leave now."**

"Yeah, like hell that's happening after everything you said, you little shit!" Shinki didn't care anymore. He would get all the information he needed after he beat the living daylights out of the Rajang.

Shinki thrust his right fist towards the Rajang, embedding the spikes from Eternal Wrath into the Rajang's skin. "It's a pity one of us ain't leaving this field alive."

**"You think?" **The Rajang sneered and twitched a little as a shining golden aura enveloped its body, sending Shinki flying back. Before Shinki could recover, the Rajang jumped and pummeled him with a quick one-two punch, smashing him into the floor. It then picked up Shinki by his head with its hand.

**"You're the crimson one, correct? Perhaps it has been far too long since you last used your powers, but this is beyond pathetic. Aren't you supposed to be the legendary embodiment of rage? What are you doing losing to someone like me?"**The Rajang snickered.

Shinki let out a snarl and punched the fist holding him, causing the Rajang to drop him. He let out another punch aimed at the face of the Rajang, who swiftly dodged it by hopping back before countering with a headbutt.

As Shinki got the wind knocked out of him, the Rajang jumped behind him, brought both of its fists together, and sent them down straight into Shinki's face. The impact made a distinct 'boom' sound, and dust flew all around the two brawlers.

**"I guess with that it's over."** The Rajang moved towards the darkness once more. **"That wasn't even close to a challenge."**

The dust cleared itself and revealed Shinki still standing, although his legs were wobbly.

"This..." Shinki struggled to get his words out. "This fight is nowhere near over."

The Rajang gave an impressed stare at Shinki.

**"Still standing? I guess you can't say you're the embodiment of rage if you died that easily, huh?"** He moved back to Shinki, and lowered his face to be level with him. **"You still got the spirit, at least. But you'll need more than that if you hope to defeat me."**

He lifted up Shinki by the head again, and this time the latter didn't resist.

**"I guess for being this persistent, I'll tell you something in return. I saw what happened to your vessels' parents. The monster who attacked them resembled a mountain in its size. Go figure,"** He flung Shinki towards the window from which Ayumi and Volt were watching in awe, stunned by the sight of the almighty Crimson Fatalis losing without even putting up much of a fight. **"I'll be waiting for the day when you get your powers back."**

Having said that, the Rajang tensed up its legs, then jumped up into the darkness of the moon. The golden aura gradually faded away into nothingness, leaving behind Shinki with his ego seriously bruised.

* * *

><p><em><em><span>That bastard. I'll kill him. Should have gone full power from the start. Fucking shit.<span>__ Shinki had been swearing nonstop since the battle was over. Hishoji checked the hospital clock. Visiting hours were nearly over, and already the nurses were beginning to ask them to go home. _That asshole is going to pay. I fucking swear it._

Although the attack of the Rajang earlier would have mortally wounded any normal human, as Shinki was in control during the attack, Hishoji now suffered nothing more than a few bruises. Although he didn't say it, Hishoji was silently grateful for the armor mode of the Crimson Fatalis to be working during the battle. Otherwise, there might have been one more person lying in the ward now.

Shinki suffered the most as a result of the battle, for the Rajang had hit him where it hurt the most. _For someone like me to lose to the likes of him..._

_Listen the hell up you little shit. I got a little deal for you._ Shinki sounded solemn now.

_Go on._ Hishoji perked up, interested.

_I'm probably gonna regret this,_ Shinki sighed, _Let__ me hunt the bastard down the next time we encounter him. In return, I'll...try...to minimize all the torturing and shit I've been doing to you._

Hishoji couldn't believe what he was hearing. He could finally feel emotions properly again? Perhaps there was a God after all.

_That Rajang made sense after all. I might be the legendary spirit of rage, but enclosed within a human body my power is restricted severely. You really need to do something about it. As for that Rajang, the next time we clash again, I'll make sure victory is claimed by me. After all, in a way, I did hold back..._

_Deal. I'd be a fool not to accept, hm?_

* * *

><p>"So I guess we're headed back home now?" Volt inquired as the three of them left the hospital.<p>

"Yeah. Hey, why you didn't help Shinki earlier?"

"Tch, are you kidding me? You could literally sense the power gap between us. Only someone as arrogant as Shinki would try to take him on."

_I heard that._ Shinki growled.

"Heh, nice to know. You know what else is nicer? I believe I got a lead on who did this to our parents."

Ayumi's eyes lit up.

"What? Who?"

"There's only one monster who resembles a mountain in Monster Hunter," Hishoji narrowed his eyes in anger. "_Lao Shan Lung._"

* * *

><p>Alatreon. The name that struck fear into the hearts of every monster, save for a certain trio of Fatalis. For while hunters used it as a general name for every one of the rare blazing black dragons, when monsters use it they refer only to the Awakened one.<p>

He was well known for being a complete sadist and possessing not a single drop of mercy inside his large body. This was proven by the multiple dead Alatreon corpses around him that he had slain without a moment's hesitation. In his mind, only he was fit to be labelled as the single Legendary Elder Dragon. After all, how could he be the ruler if there were others who could potentially take his place?

And so it was with a heavy heart that the Awakened Lao Shan Lung approached him inside his lair, configured to look precisely as it did back when Alatreon was still at the Yukumo Region.

There were three others that walked alongside him, two bird wyverns known as the Yian Kut Ku and Yian Garuga. The third was a slender figure that appeared to be a human, and was dressed in a black robe that hid the face. The Lao Shan knew only too well that where he had failed they had succeeded.

"**You understand, then? Tell everyone to keep a low profile. Tell them I allow only the Awakened to be roaming around, and even then they should hide their presence, lest any one of the three finds them." **Alatreon was talking to a giant Vespoid that had a miniature crown on its head, which was a symbol of its position amongst the insects.

**"And if any of the Awakened happened to be caught in an unfortunate situation with the three Fatalis and their vessels? **The Vespoid Queen buzzed loudly, her wings reflecting the colors of the rainbow.

**"If there is no choice, then kill them. But tell them this, should they pick that option, and fail to finish off the humans...life is going to be hell for them."**

The Vespoid Queen nodded her tiny head to indicate that she understood, then flew upwards and took her leave. Alatreon turned his cold black eyes to the Lao Shan. He had heard about the Rocky Mountain Dragon's failure, for news traveled fast with the Vespoids and their queen on his side. He tapped the floor once with his claw.

**"You blundering fool!"**A geyser exploded near the enormous Mountain Elder Dragon, who trembled in fear.

**"Aieeeee! I'm sorry! Please don't kill me, my lord! The area was too dark, I swear, I couldn't see anything!" ****The voice that came out of the gigantic Elder Dragon's mouth was squeaky, not what one would expect from one of that size.**

**"Maybe I should remove both of your eyes so you can't see anything ****_forever_****. But considering that the plan didn't fail completely, you have five seconds to**** scram."**Alatreon answered coldly.

**"Yes sir! I won't fail you again! I swear!"**The Awakened Lao Shan slowly backed off and vanished.

**"Useless excuse for an Elder Dragon."** Alatreon shook his head. The plan should have been flawless. Seek out the Fatalis vessels' parents with information gathered from the Vespoids, confirm their targets with the Awakened Kut Ku's powers, and then have the Awakened Lao Shan crush them in one attack. And yet the Elder Dragon had failed in doing such a simple task.

"**But my lord, why are you getting so agitated? We did succeed after all." **The robed figure's voice sounded distinctly female.

"**Yeah man, purple bird here totally settled the two." **The Kut Ku crowed.

The Yian Garuga gave a glare at the Kut Ku. **"Don't call me that, you bloody chicken. Besides, humans are weak. One good roar into their minds is all it takes to break them."  
><strong>

They weren't wrong, for while the main plan had failed the backup one still worked. The two humans might not have been killed by the Lao Shan since they jumped out of the car a split second before the foot crushed it, but Alatreon had foreseen such an unfortunate outcome.

That was why he had decided to send the robed figure along with the two bird wyverns to assist the Lao Shan Lung, in order to ensure that the two humans would 'die' one way or another. And it was a good thing he did too, for without her(?) to command the two bird wyverns the entire plan probably wouldn't have worked at all.

**"At least I know I can trust you to get the job done," **Alatreon nodded at the robed figure. **"All evidence of the attack is covered up, I assume?"**

**"Of course. After all, humans only believe what they see, no?" **

**"Well then I needn't have worried so much. It's not like they could bring the fight to me, not with just the three of them." **Alatreon smiled. The odds were hugely against the Fatalis trio after all, what with both the monsters from Pokke and Yukumo seeking them out**. "Be warned, cousins, your days are numbered."**


	10. School

**Author's Note: You'll see references to random games and stuff. It's something I like to add in just for the heck of it. If you don't get it, Google or YouTube it. The chapters following this one are all roughly the same length as this, mostly because I didn't have much time when I wrote them. Sorry if they're short. I'll do my best to improve them as I go along.  
><strong>

**I'd post the warning here, but you guys probably know by now. Incidentally, did anyone notice that it took 9 chapters for a single day to pass in this story? Hehe, I have a bad habit of making things drag on, don't I? ** And with this we start Arc 2!**  
><strong>

* * *

><p>Hishoji skillfully inputted the required buttons for the final attack of the 2D game he was playing on the computer.<p>

"Take this!" His character inside the game spoke as she fired off an enormous rainbow colored beam. "Love Sign 'Master Spark'!"

The beam engulfed his opponent in the game, and Hishoji cheered the attack on silently as it dealt the finishing attack, reducing the life bar of his opponent to zero.

His victory was short lived though, as weird letters in a font Hishoji had never seen before began to form around his computer screen.

"I don't remember this being in the game," Hishoji muttered as he looked at the letters. They were slowly beginning to form a sentence. "'Eye ham a little shit.' What?"

No sooner had Hishoji spoke the sentence out loud did his computer screen suddenly begin to distort as a head started emerging out of it.

"What the eff?" Hishoji recognized the face instantly. After all, it was _his_ face. The tattered red jacket confirmed his identity. "The hell are you doing in there, Shinki?"

"Beats me," Shinki shrugged, then gave Hishoji a look that sent shivers down his spine. "Now stop dreaming and wake the hell up. Ayumi says it's time for school."

"Wake up? School?" Hishoji was genuinely confused. "You mean I'm dreaming?"

"You can't even differentiate between reality and your dreams? Figures, since you're playing games even in your sleep," Shinki walked closer to Hishoji and raised his feet, revealing that he was wearing boots that had sharp, shiny spikes underneath them. "Real nice of you to admit that you're a little shit by the way. And now, boot to the head."

* * *

><p>"Gyaahhh!" Hishoji jumped off the floor in a panic, and unfortunately went headfirst into the "Wall of Blood". The collision caused him to become disorientated, and he started to see double.<p>

"Wow, he actually did it." A startled Ayumi blinked. It was a good idea to allow Shinki to wake Hishoji up after all. The three alarm clocks they bought never really did their jobs, and since Shinki had kindly offered to wake Hishoji up without any terms and conditions, Ayumi took up his offer instantly.

Hishoji cursed out loud after a few seconds of looking around his room with a dazed look in his eyes. He gave Ayumi a look of anger as he went into the toilet to wash up, swearing revenge on Shinki for such a cruel wake-up call.

_Well someone had to do it, I simply volunteered. Shouldn't you be praising me for doing a good __thing for once?_ Shinki chuckled.

"What the hell happened to our deal?" Hishoji rolled his eyes.

_The deal never said anything about not doing good things for you without abusing my powers. Now, shouldn't you hurry up? Kuroi is starting to annoy me with his enthusiasm about this 'school' thing._

_Indeed,_ Kuroi chipped in. _It certainly sounds like a nice place._

"Nice? Pfft, only if you have any intention of studying," The water felt freezing cold on Hishoji's face. As his bed had been cleaved in half by Volt, he had to spend the entire night sleeping on the floor, and his body was now starting to ache. "And while we're at it, don't try to pull anything funny there. Or I might not even have a school to go to, just like I don't have a bed to sleep in now."

* * *

><p>"Eh? Why aren't you getting dressed?" Hishoji asked Ayumi as he chowed down on some bread.<p>

"It's a holiday for me today, remember? Something about our class having the top performance for five times in a row, so the principal gave us an off day."

"Man, I wish I could have today off too. We have sports today. I hate sports. Something bad _always_ happens during sports."

"Maybe if you exercised more you won't get an injury every time you attempt something as easy as running." Ayumi suggested.

"It's not my fault I prefer exercising my brain by playing console games than exercising my body doing physical activities," Hishoji shrugged and grabbed his cellphone. "Anyway, I'm gonna be late if I dally any longer. We'll contact each other through phone if anything happens."

The chinking of armor could be heard as Volt walked into the kitchen.

"Morning," he rubbed his eyes. "So uh, what are we doing today?"

"Nothing much. I'm heading off to school," Hishoji yawned, then looked at Volt with an eyebrow raised. "Hey, do you take off your armor when you sleep?"

"Nope."

"Figures. Well you DO take it off when taking a bath, right?"

"Only if you guys had a hot spring around, which you don't. So no, I won't be removing it when I bathe. Why do you ask?"

"...Seriously? I wish I never asked. Anyway, I guess you should stay with Ayumi today and protect the house or something in case another monster appears. Well, gotta go."

He went out of the house and headed for school, leaving behind a confused Volt.

"What was that about my armor?"

* * *

><p>On the way to school, Hishoji was given many odd looks by other students who were headed for the same destination. And true enough, if one didn't know better, one would assume he had a screw loose in his head from the way he was wearing a red glove on his right hand and a black one in his left, and how he was constantly talking to himself.<p>

It didn't help that once he was in class, the students began to gossip about him. Amongst them was Hishoji's friend Edmund, who had a passion for collecting weird, mostly harmless rumors. Since the gossip involved Hishoji and could potentially hurt his feelings, Edmund wasn't too happy. He broke off from the group roughly five seconds after he joined them, and went to his seat beside with a disappointed look on his face.

Judging from Edmund's behavior, Hishoji assumed that there were no interesting rumors for the day. Most of the time, when Edmund got word of an interesting rumor, he would spread the news around the school with a shine in his eyes.

The students at the back continued their gossiping even without Edmund, and despite Hishoji's best efforts to ignore them, their claims were getting louder and more ridiculous by the second.

"I heard his parents were injured in an accident of some sort."

"Really? Was he the one who had both his parents in a coma state or something?"

"But I heard his parents died?"

"No no, I heard that his dad was the one who died. His mother's the one in the coma."

Hishoji couldn't take it anymore, and glared at the ones who seem to be taking delight in talking about his parents. They noticed him and quickly moved to another corner, presumably to continue their gossiping. It wasn't like he could do anything to them anyway. Yesterday had been crazy with the entire Monster Hunter stuff going on. Still, he had an uneasy feeling today wasn't going to be normal either.

_Not like it's going to be normal again. Ever. Not with me around._ Shinki's voice echoed in his head.

"Whatever." Hishoji searched his bag for his spare PSP. It was a backup, with almost no save data on it, but it'll have to do for now. Using Mark to play would feel weird as well, and if he had spoken out loud then his classmates would get suspicious of him.

_Fortunately I left Mark at home,_ he turned on the PSP and plugged in his earphones. His game booted up at the same time the teacher entered the class. _Hopefully the craziness will be kept to a minimum._

* * *

><p>Ayumi sighed. The house feels strangely empty without her parents around. Granted, they were normally out working, but they only left for work in the later part of the day, and were they still here today they would have found some way to strike up a conversation with her or something. Anything was better than this silence. She found herself remembering all the time she had together with her parents.<p>

_I can't talk to them ever again, huh..._ Her eyes started to tear up again.

_Have faith, Ayumi._ Shira's voice comforted her. _It's not like they aren't alive anymore. There's still a chance that they might wake up._

_Yeah...thanks, Shira._ Ayumi shot a glance at the clock in her room.

"10 AM, huh? Looks like it's gonna be a long day," She sat on her bed and looked out the window at the dark clouds that were swiftly approaching. "Huh? The weather report didn't say anything about it raining today."

"Hey Ayumi, what's this giant black thing with the screen supposed to be?" Volt asked and pointed at the television as he entered her room.

Ayumi gave a little jump. With all the reminiscing about her parents she had nearly forgot the presence of the hunter in their house entirely. Maybe it won't be as bad as she thought after all. Still, it wasn't right to enter someone's room without knocking.

"You really should knock before you enter," Ayumi gave him a disapproving look. "Anyway, that's a TV. Short for television. I'll show you how it works."

* * *

><p><em><span>Very interesting game you're playing.<span>_ Kuroi's voice suddenly rang out inside Hishoji's head, completely drowning out the sound from the earphones. _But in case you haven't noticed, the lesson's over._

Hishoji looked up from his PSP, and took off his earphones. He hasn't noticed the time since he started playing, and now the class was almost deserted.

"Good thing the teacher didn't notice the two of you," Hishoji muttered as he looked at the gloves he was wearing. "Well, it's not like she ever notices anything anyway. Not even me playing a PSP in her class. Well, time for me to hide somewhere and avoid sports."

"Oh no you don't."

Someone pulled Hishoji by his collar, causing him to gag slightly. He struggled and broke free, casting an irritated look at the person who just manhandled him.

Unfortunately for him, it happened to be their class chairperson, Elizabeth. She had her hair tied up in double ponytails, and facial features which complimented each other so nicely such that most other girls would be green with jealousy.

Unfortunately, Hishoji couldn't really be bothered with her.

"Elizabeth, do you really enjoy seeing me suffer injuries in sports?" Hishoji muttered.

Elizabeth gave him an amused look with her blue eyes, and then her expression went back to a serious one.

"It's my job," she stated, "Come on, let's get going already. Mr Aloysius isn't going to be happy if you're late again." She turned and went towards the stairs.

"I hate sports. Something bad always happens during sports. I bet today-"

"_A NEW CHALLENGER APPEARS!"_ Hishoji's PSP cut him off midway. He remembered that he was in the middle of an arcade fighter game, and that the volume was on max. He quickly switched it off with a worried expression on his face.

"That has _got _to be some kind of foreshadowing."

* * *

><p>The rain arrived sooner than Ayumi had anticipated, and she ran around the house in a hurry to close all the windows after taking in the laundry.<p>

"Volt! Help me out here!" She shouted.

"Can't do that, this TV thing is too interesting!" Volt replied from inside her room.

"Dammit," she swore, "Should never have introduced him to TV. Now, where else? Oh, first floor."

She made her way to the first floor and started to close the windows as well. As she reached for the last window to close, she froze. It might have been a trick her eyes were playing on her, but for a moment Ayumi thought she saw something move.

_Something's out there. Don't make any sudden movements._ Shira confirmed her suspicions. _This feeling...I believe I know who it is._

_Right._ She slowly begun to back off as the wind outside picked up speed, blowing with enough force to make the last window close with a sharp _click_.

A minute passed, and Ayumi scanned the area outside through the window. The rain obscured her sight, and she couldn't see any farther than three, maybe four meters. And yet the ominous feeling that there was something outside did not pass. If anything, it got even stronger.

And then she saw it at the same time it saw her. A creature completely covered in what appears to be a solid white spinning mass of wind, and Ayumi could just about make out what appeared to be two black eyes focused on her.

The Kushala Daora let out a roar that shook the foundations of the house.


	11. Third time's the charm : VS Daora!

**Author's note: As I said earlier, don't expect too many VS scenes as the story goes on. Also, I consider air and wind two different things in my story. Just saying.**

**I'd post the warning here, but you know already.**

* * *

><p>"So um, what's with you wearing two different colored gloves today?" Elizabeth asked as the two of them walked down the staircase into the school's main foyer.<p>

_Crap, she noticed._ Hishoji's luck had ran out.

"It's a long story," He sighed. "Don't wanna talk about it."

_Don't want to get her involved, hm?_ Kuroi said from somewhere in his mind.

_I did say I want to keep the craziness to a minimum._

"I guess you don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Elizabeth started to tug gently at one of her ponytails. "Heard the weird rumors about the monsters yet?"

"Monsters? What?" Hishoji's heart skipped a beat.

"Yeah, haven't you been watching the news? Or did Edmund not tell you? I thought he would be all over this," Elizabeth lowered her voice, even though there was no one else around but the two of them taking the stairs. "There were some people saying that they saw some weird looking animals and whatnot appearing all around their houses and roads. The ones who saw them said they saw some resembled that dragons, and others that looked like something right out of an action film. Strange thing is, the monsters all disappeared just as fast as they arrived."

It wasn't like Hishoji had not been anticipating this, but the thought that they were already on the news after just one day still shocked him a little. Of course, he could just use this to his advantage. He made a mental note to watch more television at home.

"And I just remembered something. I _think _the people who made these claims live somewhere near your house. Did you see anything yesterday morning?"

"What? See what?" Hishoji tried to avoid the subject.

"Oh crude, you weren't even listening, were you?" Elizabeth seemed to notice the uncomfortable look on Hishoji's face. "Well, you don't have to be so worried anyway, it's just a couple of reports, maybe around two or three. Probably just a bunch of crazy goons who had been drinking too much."

They arrived at the foyer, where their sports teacher was awaiting them with a look of menace on his face. Strangely enough, everyone from their class seemed to have gone ahead for their run without the two of them.

"I mean seriously, _monsters_?" Elizabeth scoffed. "Yeah, right."

_If only she knew better,_ Shinki cackled.

* * *

><p>Volt jumped out of Ayumi's room the instant the Kushala Daora roared, his weapon at the ready. He gave a gasp of surprise at the wind Elder Dragon still glaring at them from the opposite side of the window.<p>

"What the hell is that?"

_"Kushala Daora. The Elder Dragon of wind. I certainly hope it's not an Awakened one, otherwise we-"_

**"Found you." **The Daora cut Mark off with a voice that reverberated around the house.

_"Never mind, forget I said anything,"_ Mark flew back into Ayumi's room. _"Tell me when you guys are done."_

Volt gave Mark a unimpressed look.

"You're just gonna run when trouble comes knocking on your door? Great help you are," He jumped down from the second floor and landed beside Ayumi. "Yo, quit daydreaming. You got your weapon loaded?"

"What? Y-yeah. I don't think it wants to attack us just yet though. Its been standing there for over a minute now, just glaring at me."

"We can't wait for it to make the first move. Remember what happened with the Jaggis?" Volt opened the front door and took the first step out, the rain instantly drenching his armor.

Ayumi slowly inched her way to the front door as well, her eyes refusing to turn away from the Daora. Much to her surprise, once she was outside, the harsh rain became a light drizzle around her.

"Eh? What's this?" She looked at the Daora. Was it the one causing this unnatural phenomenon? If so, it seemed only to be interested in her, as Volt was still getting pounded upon by the heavy rain.

"Damn, it's getting really hard to move," Volt attempted to take a step forward, only to be pushed back by a blast of wind. "Tch, how are we supposed to hunt that thing when we can't even move or see it in this weather?"

"I dunno about you, but the wind isn't affecting me," Ayumi hopped forward to prove her point, then looked at the Daora. "How did you find us?"

**"I asked the wind," **The wind wrapped around the Daora slowed down slightly, although it still looked like it would mince anything that dared to touch it. **"It never lies."**

"Well then, since this weather doesn't seem to be affecting me, I'm assuming you want something from me?"

**"Correct. Alatreon assigned this mission to me as a test of my loyalty,"** The Daora moved closer to Ayumi, **"Not that I need to prove anything to that bastard, but the fate of the Daora family hangs in the balance. It's a simple task really, I am to just bring you to him."**

"So you're going to be like that Lao Shan Lung as well?" Ayumi looked up at the Daora towering above her.

**"How did you know about him? And I'm only doing this for the guaranteed safety of my clan. Alatreon promised he would not harm any of them as long as I do as he says,"** The Daora sighed and spread out its wings, **"I shouldn't be telling you this much. But there's something...intriguing about you."**

"Oi, I hope you haven't forgotten about me!" Volt had sneaked forward while the two of them were talking, and had placed himself in an advantageous position at the side of the Daora. He thrust his Switch Axe forward, only to have it caught by the wind barrier. A horrible screeching sound filled the air as the sharp winds started to tear Volt's weapon apart.

**"I'm sorry, I think I did. Won't happen again."**The Switch Axe was sent flying from Volt's hand, and embedded itself into the ground several feet away from Ayumi. The rain around Volt began to get even heavier, such that he was brought to his knees and struggling to stand.

"Crap," Ayumi took a few steps towards Volt, only to be forced back to her original position by the harsh winds. She frowned and took aim at the Daora with the scope on her bowgun. "If you think I'm going without a fight then you can keep on dreaming."

**"I thought you might say that. But please, consider the current situation you're in. What chance do you think you have when even that hunter in full armor over there couldn't do anything about me?"** The Daora sighed, **"Let's just make this as short and painless for you as possible, alright?"**

"I'll never know until I try," Ayumi hopped backwards a few paces and fired a bullet, only to watch it bounce harmlessly off the chest of the Daora due to the wind barrier. "Damn wind."

**"I told you,"** The Daora didn't move from its position. **"Look, I'll give you two more shots. If you fail to harm me within those two shots then I want you to leave with me without anymore resistance. If you do manage to harm me, I'll take my leave."**

"And what guarantee do we have you'll really leave if we manage to get past your barrier?"

**"I give you my word."**

_Elder Dragons can't break their promises, Ayumi. You can trust her on that one._ Shira intercepted Ayumi before she could speak.

_Huh? Oh, okay. __She had no reason not to believe Shira. _She was an Elder Dragon as well after all.

"Okay then," Ayumi cast a glance at Volt, who had gotten up and pulled his weapon out from the ground. "Volt, what's a recommended bullet? Normal shots don't seem to be working."

Volt checked his weapon carefully, then placed it on his back when he was assured that it was still in one piece. "Pierce should get us past that wind."

"Gotcha," Ayumi took the bullet with the label "Pierce lv3" on it and loaded up her bowgun. "Let's hope this works..."

She pulled the trigger, and the recoil from the shot pushed her backwards against the wind. The bullet that emerged from the barrel of the bowgun flew with a surprisingly fast speed towards the Elder Dragon, and for a moment it appeared as if it was going to hit her. But with a mere flick of her wing, the Daora caused a sudden gust to propel the bullet out of its trajectory.

"Cheater," Ayumi muttered under her breath.

_**"I didn't say I was going to just stand here and let you shoot me. All I said was that I'll give you two more shots. And you have one last chance remaining."**__  
><em>_  
><em>__She's right, Ayumi. You still have one more chance.__ The Light Bowgun in Ayumi's hands started to glow softly with Shira's words.

Ayumi nodded resolutely, and pulled the trigger once more. She noted that the recoil from the bullet this time was nonexistent. The bullet seemed to have acquired the glow from the bowgun as well.

The Daora looked at the strange bullet, unsure what to make of the white glow. She still stood her ground though, and flicked her wing as with the previous bullet. This time, the bullet continued heading towards her.

**"What?"** The Daora exclaimed in surprise as she saw the bullet still heading towards her despite the wind. She took flight to avoid the bullet, and as she hovered above the ground the Daora looked at Ayumi strangely. Then her face seemed to lit up, as though she remembered something.

**"That power..."** The Daora landed. **"I thought I felt something familiar about you."**

_About time._ Shira sounded happy. _Ayumi, can I take over for a while?_

_Uh, sure._

"Took you long enough." Shira smiled at the Daora.

**"That voice...I haven't heard that for a while."** The Daora hopped back, then straightened herself. **"Lady Shira?****"**

"The one and only."

**"****Forgive me for my impertinence earlier,"** The Daora's tone had changed to one of respect the moment Shira confirmed her identity. ****"I heard you and the other two were still alive, but even the wind didn't seem to know where."  
><strong>**

**"**Maybe you just didn't tell it specifically what to search for."

"**True, I only asked for it to search for the three awakened Fatalis. Details given by the Vespoids were unclear, and I thought you three had somehow managed to revive inside your bodies. Since you are in the form of a human, the wind automatically excluded you."**

"Look on the bright side, at least you found me now."

****The Daora sighed.**** "Yes, I did. But Alatreon that swine, to think I almost committed an act of betrayal without even knowing it..."****

"Well then, what are you going to do? From what you said earlier, it sounded nothing short of blackmail by Alatreon."

**"I have to secure the safety of my clan, it's my duty as an Awakened. But to raise my hand at ****my old friend and Queen would be unforgivable for me as well."**

The rain around the house began to stop as the winds slowly died down, although the weather outside the perimeter of the house remained as it was. Volt moved towards the two, his armor still dripping wet.

"So, am I missing something here?"

"Yes, you are. Wendy and I here go way back."

"Wow, it has a name?"

A quick gust of wind sent Volt rolling along the floor.

**"She."**

"Right, she. My bad."

"Regardless, are you sure it's a wise choice to listen to that Alatreon? He never keeps his word, you know. Another reason why we banished him."

**"I would rather make an ally than an enemy out of that Alatreon in times like these,"** The wind barrier around Wendy completely dispersed, revealing shining metallic skin. **"But since things have come to this, I doubt I can return to him."**

"You're staying, then? We could do with more allies too, you know. Especially with someone like you."

**"I'll come back after I've ensured the safety of my clan,"** Wendy prepared to take flight, and then stopped. She gave a confused look at the sky as a slow breeze blew all around the three standing out in front of the house. **"Oh no."**

"What?" Volt asked. An intense look of sadness had overtaken the Elder Dragon's face.

**"I've been a fool to trust that lowlife,"** A single tear emerged from Wendy's eyes, and flowed down her cheeks before the wind blew it off. **"I fear the Daora clan is no more."**

* * *

><p><strong>"Ah my lord, still as cunning as ever."<strong>The Great Furogi bowed down before Alatreon, as did the Great Baggi who was beside it.

**"Yes, killing off the entire Daora species after sending their leader off on a mission was a stroke of genius."**The Great Baggi added.

**"I expected that Daora to join them if she ever figured out what I was doing. You could say I merely took some precautions in advance,"** Alatreon smiled in satisfaction. The Kushala Daoras weren't the only monsters that had died today.**"But that wasn't what I summoned you two here to discuss about. Who else from Pokke have pledged their loyalty to us?"**

**"My lord, I would say we have the support of around fifty percent of the monsters from Pokke."**

**"Too little. What have you all been doing, slacking off on the job?"**

**"B-but my lord, we've been doing our best to-"**The Great Furogi begun to stammer.

**"Silence!"** A geyser of flame exploded near the tail of the Great Furogi, who let out a yap as its tail caught fire. **"What about the the Rajang?"**

**"W-well, he has still decided on remaining neutral."**The Great Baggi replied, all the while looking at the Great Furogi who was still trying to get the fire off its tail.

**"****_Still?" _**The annoyance in Alatreon's voice was evident. The Rajang was a considerably powerful fighter, and could either be a great help or threat depending on whose side he was on.** "The two of you have three days to get the Rajang to join our cause."**

**"We understand."** The Great Baggi gulped. Three days was hardly enough, since the Rajang had made his point clear about not taking sides when they had asked him. He didn't even give them a chance to ask again too, for he had disappeared immediately after answering their question. **"Although if I may ask, why not simply destroy the Fatalis Trio right now? We have more than enough to crush them where they stand without suffering too much casualties."**

**"Do you know of the humiliation I suffered when they cast me out of the Elder Dragon family? I intend to pay them back twofold for all they put me through. Their deaths shall be anything ****_but_**** quick,"** Alatreon's eyes seemed contained a spark of madness as he said this. **"I shall make them rue the very day they decided to cross paths with me!"**

The Great Baggi and Furogi stared at each other, the same thought going through both of their heads. Alatreon might be powerful, but he had enough insanity to match that power as well. And it was simply because of this power that they had pledged their loyalty to him. But could they really believe in someone who was so obsessed with revenge?

* * *

><p>Further above the three monsters, an Elder Dragon with a serpentine white body gazed down upon them. His movements in the air were smooth, almost as if he was dancing, and as he twirled he slowly picked the remains of some Kushala Daoras off his body. He called himself Zarklyion, but of course the hunters back in Yukumo didn't know that. They called his species Heaven's Calamity, or in their native tongue, <em>Amatsu-magatsuchi<em>.

He had first met Alatreon not too soon after the latter had been banished. Word of an Elder Dragon with power over almost every elemental energy in Minegarde reached Zarklyion's ears, and he had sought Alatreon out hoping to be able to learn how to master the various elements besides the two he possessed.

The two hit it off almost immediately upon meeting in a volcanic wasteland, for Alatreon wanted to know how to control water and air as much as Zarklyion wanted to know about elemental energy. It was on this basis that their friendship was formed. Of course, it was a very fragile relationship, since both knew that once one of them mastered everything, he would have no qualms about killing the other.

And so it was that they taught each other only the bare minimum, while retaining the more finer details of their powers for themselves. With Alatreon's natural aptitude for elemental energy he soon figured out how to control water effectively with minimal help from Zarklyion. But control over air was still out of bounds for Alatreon, and it was solely for that reason that Alatreon had refrained from killing him off.

Zarklyion knew that well, and had put off teaching Alatreon about air for as long as possible. But the latter's paitence was coming to an end. Zarklyion had returned from his latest mission to find the two other Amatsus that had followed him into this world dead, their bodies completely ravaged. The wounds on their bodies were familiar to Zarklyion; he had seen what Alatreon could do back when they went to war with the monsters from Pokke.

Zarklyion knew Alatreon won't kill him before being taught how to control air, but there was nothing Zarklyion could do about his dead comrades. He could only curse his former 'friend' silently in his heart. However, as Zarklyion watched the three speaking below, he caught the flicker of doubt that crossed both of the Bird Wyvern's faces for a split instant.

**"I almost feel sorry for them,"** The voice that emerged from the mouth of the Amatsu was a breezy one, **"But Alatreon should know that attempting to rule through fear alone will never work."**

**"Maybe there ****_is_**** something I can do after all,****"** An idea began to form in Zarklyion's mind. **"It's just a matter of finding a group of monsters who has had enough of that dragon. And they'll need someone to lead them. Someone like, say, ****_me_****.****"**


	12. The Forest That Never Was

**Author's note : Actually the amount of fantasy increases to fill up the things that don't effing make sense in Monster Hunter. AND the powers of the Awakened. I'll try to fix stuff, but don't expect me to explain how the Awakened powers work. They just do, to make hunts more...interesting, like you'll see in the chapter after this.  
><strong>

**[Insert warning here.]**

* * *

><p>"See? I <em>told<em> you something bad always happens during sports!" Hishoji winced as his big toe throbbed painfully.

"Oh man, this one's a new record. We aren't even one-tenth of the way to the finish line yet," Elizabeth sighed, "Why did that sport teacher of ours even pair me up with you again?"

"Because apparently you can ensure I finally finish a run without coming back two hours late for class." Hishoji put on a falsetto voice mimicking their sports teacher.

"And how do you think I can help someone who doesn't even look at where he is running to and end up running into a rock?"

Hishoji gave a look of scorn at her, and turned his attention to the surroundings. They had reached a crossroad, and from what their sports teacher had said they were supposed to run along a different route from the usual one they took for sports.

What was odd was that he seemed to be full of glee when he mentioned that the run included a short trip through a slightly forested area.

_Worried about something?_ Kuroi asked.

_Yeah. Something just doesn't feel right._

_It's just a small patch of forest you shit, and if you can't even handle it then how do you expect to hunt anything with your body in the physical condition that it is now?_ Shinki butted in.

_Shut up._

It was pretty stupid how every conversation with Shinki ended with Hishoji saying the same thing.

_Wow so you noticed. You need a new catchphrase or something._

_Shut- Argh, forget it._

"Well if your toe is better now we should move on," Elizabeth pointed a finger to the left, "That way."

* * *

><p><strong>"Damn Alatreon. If it wasn't obvious that even at full power we would barely scratch him, I've have effing ripped out his guts where he stood."<strong>The Great Furogi licked at his tail, which had been charred black by the geyser attack from Alatreon earlier.

The two Bird Wyverns were traveling along the sewers, which the Furogi had insisted that they go so that he could insult Alatreon all he wanted without the latter knowing. The area reeked, but it was quiet and somewhat peaceful, and was probably the only place Alatreon hasn't sent a Vespoid to investigate.

**"Be careful of what you say. He who controls the Vespoids has eyes and ears everywhere."**The Great Baggi whispered in response. It didn't hurt to be cautious after all.

**"Not in here. Besides, that asshole burnt my tail! I will ****_not_**** take this lying down, mark my words. And now he expects us to be in charge of getting that giant black ape onto our side? Screw that, we'll get killed before we even find him again."**

**"Can't deny that,"** The Great Baggi stopped moving and sighed. The Rajang had been completely uninterested when they asked him to join Alatreon. To make matters worse, the Vespoids had reported that he was gathering neutral monsters to his side as well, and appeared to be the leader of the group. It wasn't surprising that Alatreon wanted to get the Rajang on his side.

**"Say, Furogi, do you notice anything weird about this area?"**

**"You mean aside from the stink?"**

**"Yes, aside from the stink. There's something else here, but I can't seem to put my claw on it..."**

**"Well, there shouldn't be anyone here but us right?"** The Great Furogi scratched its poison sac, **"Unless there happens to be someone who doesn't want Alatreon to know about their presence too."**

The Great Baggi narrowed its eyes. Intuition told it something was up with the area in front of them. It took a few wary steps forward and then moved back closer to its companion.

**"Did you bring along your troops along?"**

**"I could call them down if you want, but Alatreon only allowed Awakened to be outside. We'll get reprimanded again if he found out.****"**

**"I suppose that means we're the only two from Yukumo here," **The Great Baggi turned to his companion.** "Can you smell that odd scent in the air?"**

**"Eh?"** The Great Furogi sniffed the air, and suddenly sneezed. **"I remember this stench, it's from the ones back when we had that war."**

Four different colored heads peeked around the corner, one white, one blue, one yellowish green and the final one red with a tinge of purple.

**"I thought we had someone else down here." **The Iodrome hissed, slight puffs of poison emanating from his mouth. ****"Let's get them guys!"****

At his command, a wave of raptors, each with a corresponding color as their leader, charged towards the two Yukumo Bird Wyverns.

* * *

><p>"Right, how...long have...we been running?" Hishoji asked, now extremely out of breath.<p>

"Ten minutes. Not bad, you actually kept at it nonstop," Elizabeth turned and gave Hishoji a thumbs up, "Now let's keep going."

They had been jogging along a dirt path, and the rugged terrain was making Hishoji's already sore body even more sore. He looked ahead and saw the multiple trees in front, each with trunks incredibly thick and huge.

"Oh. We made it to the checkpoint," Hishoji sat on the floor, wiping some of his sweat off with his arm. "Okay let's head back, I wanna sit down and play my PSP already."

"Quit whining. If you're just gonna sit there I'll just go ahead without you," Elizabeth turned and jogged forward a few paces, then looked at the huge number of vines and trees in front of her. "This doesn't look like it belongs here."

"What's up?" Hishoji picked himself up and walked slowly to Elizabeth. He inhaled slowly at the sight of the foest, for it seemed to expand as he approached. When he was right in front of it, its size seemed to have doubled compared to when he was further away, the trees towering far above their heads. "I don't even recall there being a forest in Yarino City, but our destination is this way, right?"

"Seems like it. This is creepy," She glanced at the dark path ahead. "I've never really been in this part of the city before, but still, this forest looks really out of place here."

"Still wanna go ahead?" Hishoji shrugged.

"Don't try to think of any stupid excuses. We're finishing this run no matter what."

_Careful where you tread in there. Something's off about that forest._ Kuroi warned.

_Gotcha._

"Let's just get this over and done with."

* * *

><p>The Great Baggi and Furogi breathed heavily in exhaustion. As if being caught in a surprise attack wasn't enough, the four Dromes had them vastly outnumbered. Two against an entire swarm wasn't the best of odds. That said, they still had an advantage in the battle. They had the raptors out-skilled.<p>

Already more than two thirds of the Drome army had fallen, unable to defeat the stronger generation of Bird Wyverns. Some died to the deadly poison of the Great Furogi, others fell into an eternal sleep upon getting hit by the saliva of the Great Baggi.

**"Pathetic past generation trash! Get out here and fight you cowards!"** The Great Furogi called out to them before clamping its jaws around a Giaprey and tossing it towards three Velociprey. The impact killed off two of the raptors instantly, and the Furogi headbutted the last one, sending it crashing into a wall.

**"How about you take care of yourself before screaming challenges at others?"** The Iodrome sneered.

**"I can still take you four on at once!"**

**"Is that so? How about eight then?" **The Iodrome barked a sharp command at the Iopreys, which proceeded to surround the Furogi.

**"Stop hiding behind your minions and GET OVER HERE!" **The sac on the Great Furogi's chin swelled up, and he pointed his mouth skywards before releasing the poison, spreading it all over Ioprey. The much deadlier toxin of the Great Furogi overpowered their resistance to poison, and half of them died instantly. The other half found themselves gasping for air and dying a slow death.

The Great Baggi took the opportunity to jump forward in an attempt to mow the four Dromes down, but the remaining raptors went to their leaders' protection immediately. The Great Baggi growled in annoyance at the fodder in front of him, and shoved them out of the way using the bulk of its body. The remaining ones were given a quick swipe with the thick tail of the Baggi, and fell into the murky sewer waters without much resistance. None of the Dromes seemed to be in favor of fighting without the cover of their minions, and started to retreat.

**"Pah! Cowards, the bunch of you!"** The Great Furogi jumped forward as did the four Dromes backed off. **"Here's a little something to remember me by!****"**

The poison sac on the chin of the Great Furogi puffed up once again, and as he opened his mouth a swift moving cloud of poison emerged from it and flew towards the Dromes. It expanded in size dramatically upon hitting the body of the Iodrome, but the effects weren't as immediate as it was with the minions, and the Dromes managed to escape despite taking in lungfuls of the toxic air.

The Great Baggi limped up to the Furogi and patted it on the back. The toll that the battle had on them was finally beginning to show. **"We did good."  
><strong>

* * *

><p>"Huh? I'm pretty sure we ran past this spot earlier," Elizabeth scratched her head in confusion, "Maybe we're going in circles."<p>

"Great, so we got lost in a _small _patch of forest. Genius." Hishoji muttered, sarcasm dripping from every word.

"Well if you're so good, why don't you do the navigation?" She rolled her eyes.

"How about we keep heading straight? We're bound to end up somewhere if we keep going in one direction."

"Guess that could work, but just to be safe," Elizabeth squatted down and placed a shiny coin on the floor before one of the trees. "Okay, I've marked this area so we'll know if we come back here again."

The two of them continued their run in a generally straight direction, turning only when the path forward was completely blocked.

_There's something about this atmosphere,_ Kuroi sounded worried. _It's like this place is dead. Without any trace of life._

Hishoji considered Kuroi's words carefully as he ran. True enough, none of the sounds you would typically expect to hear in a forest was present. Not the singing of birds, or the chirping of cicadas. There weren't even any ants along the oddly leafless forest floor, which was already unusual enough.

And to make matters worse, the surroundings seemed to be getting darker as they moved forward, almost as if the branches overhead were filling up the gaps that allowed sunlight through at an insane speed.

"What?" Hishoji asked Elizabeth, who had ceased running abruptly.

"I think we're back where we started." Her eyebrows furrowed up.

Hishoji looked at the area before them, and realized she was right. He had taken a mental snapshot of the area earlier when Elizabeth was placing the penny, and thus was able to recognize the scenery. Everything looked exactly the same, from the endless trees in front to the numerous ferns that were growing on the side. There was, however, a slight difference.

The coin that Elizabeth had placed was no longer there.

* * *

><p>Roughly thirty meters away from the two, a pink Bird Wyvern perched on one of the branches of a tree looked at the two students wandering aimlessly inside the 'forest' with an amused expression on its face. The shadow of the 'forest' gave it good cover, and it could safely look at the two without fear that it might get found out.<p>

**"**Hey Mirage, you'll get a kick out of this. They went in."**** The Kut Ku snorted.

**"I guess they just don't teach kids like they used to,"** The same robed figure that had aided with the plan to kill Hishoji's parents faded in from the shadows and appeared beside the Kut Ku.**"It's been quite long since Kuroi and Shinki last saw me. I wonder if they'll still remember?~"**

**"But you're sure you want to do this? If any Vespoids saw us and reported it to Alatreon..."**

** **"What Alatreon doesn't know can't hurt him,"**** Mirage took out the Elizabeth's coin from a pocket and tossed it into the air.****** **"Welcome to my arena. Heads I win, tails you lose."******  
><strong>


	13. A Chicken Appeared

****Author's note : Sorry about this short chapter. Oh, and my exams are coming up so I'll stop updating for roughly...one month after the next chapter. I'll be back though, for the better or for the worst.****

* * *

><p><strong>"Hey Mirage, how about you let me go in for this one?"<strong>The Kut Ku shook it's head in excitement.

**"Oh? You mean you want to be the one to play with them?"** Mirage jumped onto a tree branch for a better view of the two humans while still remaining hidden due to the thick foliage. **"I suppose I'm fine with that. Just don't mess up, dear."**

**"Don't 'dear' me, it's creepy. Besides, since they're fighting on our terms, it's impossible for me to screw things up,"**The Kut Ku took flight, no doubt to launch an aerial attack on the unsuspecting humans who were still lost in the 'forest'.

**"Nothing's impossible,"** Mirage sighed, **"Why did Alatreon even get those birdbrains on our side? Without me in command they probably won't even be able to complete the simplest of tasks."**

* * *

><p>"So, what now?" Hishoji yawned and stretched his arms.<p>

He and Elizabeth had been in the forest for slightly over half an hour, although it certainly felt longer than that. The unchanging landscape was beginning to become a bit of a bore, and to make matters worse, for a split second Hishoji thought he was being watched by something. The feeling passed as quickly as it arrived, although it still made him slightly tense.

"Maybe we could use our cellphones," Elizabeth's eyes lit up, although the hope in them quickly faltered when she saw the display screen on her cellphone. "Great, no reception. Why am I not surprised?"

"You know, this is like the kind of stuff that happens in an anime. I'm pretty sure any moment now, a monster is gonna appear, jaws gnashing together and whatnot."

"D-don't say stuff like that." Elizabeth stammered.

"Why? You scared? But I thought you didn't believe in them," Hishoji grinned.

"Well, that was when I wasn't alone in an eerie dark forest with a sports failure who can't even finish a single run despite having been at the school for four years."

"Aw, I'm hurt by your remarks," Hishoji yawned again, "But anyway, we ain't gonna be able to get out of here by talking."

The rustling of leaves overhead alerted Hishoji, who instantly perked up.

_Something's coming. On your guard._ Kuroi warned.

_Gotcha._

Hishoji squinted his eyes, but the dense foliage didn't allow him to really see anything. The rustling slowly begun to get more violent, until it appeared as if the trees themselves were alive and shaking their leaves in an attempt to scare the two lost students. Elizabeth slowly moved closer to Hishoji while keeping a wary eye overhead. And then the rustling came to a sudden halt.

Hishoji stood his ground tensely, half expecting something to burst through the leaves. Nothing happened after a minute though, and Hishoji slowly let down his guard.

"Well, that was weird. There wasn't any breeze, so I wonder why the leaves were rustling so dramatically like that?" Hishoji let out a nervous laugh. Elizabeth appeared reliefed, and moved a little away from Hishoji.

A large yellow beak with a single red stripe down the middle emerged directly overhead the two.

**"Surprise!"**

* * *

><p><strong>"Well, talk about an anticlimactic entrance,"<strong> Mirage chuckled as it watched the Kut Ku attempt a body slam on the two humans, only to miss miserably as the both of them dodged out of the way. **"At least this should be entertaining to watch."**

* * *

><p>Elizabeth blinked slowly as she looked at the weird creature in front of her. A few seconds before, some kind of mass had fallen through from the leaves above, and she had naturally ran out of harm's way. Hishoji had apparently done the same, although with rolling instead of running, and he was brushing the dust off his clothes.<p>

Now that she got a better look at the thing that fell through, she noticed it look like some odd species of bird, as it had a beak followed by two blue wings. That said, the odd looking frill and tail, accompanied by the sheer size of the creature most definitely didn't resemble anything she had seen before.

"What the hell is this?" Elizabeth observed the creature with curiosity.

"I think this is what you would call a 'monster'." Hishoji replied.

"A monster? Like what those people said they saw in the news and all?"

"Something like that, yeah." Hishoji stood up.

**"Uh guys, I can hear you."**

"Holy shit, did it just speak?" Elizabeth's jaw dropped.

**"Yes, I just spoke. Yes, I know English. And no, I'm not a bird. Neither am I a chicken. Damn it, stop randomly classifying me under species from your world!"**The Kut Ku's shrill voice pierced through silence of the forest.

"But I didn't even say-"

**"You don't need to say anything! Stay quiet!"****  
><strong>

Hishoji looked on amusingly at the two as the Kut Ku seemingly responded to Elizabeth before her words even left her mouth. Aside from the larger than normal ears, the Awakened Kut Ku didn't look any different from the normal ones.

**"This is why I hate humans. You all think too much! And now you're making me stray from my original mission!"** The Kut Ku turned to Hishoji, **"Ah, you're a nice one. Everything's about gaming, a one-track mind. Not unlike other monsters too."**

"So I'm a monster now? Cool."

**"I didn't say that. And before you ask, yes, the mission I was talking about earlier was to engage**** you in combat."**

Hishoji clenched his fists.

_This is bad._

**"Of course it is. Looks like you've pinpointed my special ability, although honestly it was blatantly obvious."** The Kut Ku's ears enlarged themselves further, as odd runic looking symbols appeared on them. **"And you just asked a really nice question."**

**"Indeed, how ****_do_**** you defeat someone who can read your thoughts?"**


	14. The Chicken Attacked : VS Yian Kut Ku!

"Hey Hishoji, but don't you think now's a good time to start running?" Elizabeth looked worriedly at the Kut Ku.

"Running? Why?"

"Um, I don't know, maybe because _there's a giant chicken monster in front of us_?" She backed off slowly.

"Eh, I doubt we can outrun this chicken even if we tried," Hishoji shrugged, "So let's just end this here."

**"Uh, guys-"**

"End this how? In case you haven't noticed, we don't really have any weapons, and that chicken looks like it could eat our heads whole inside that huge beak. "

**"Guys-"**

"Well, running isn't going to get us anywhere. In case _you_ haven't noticed, this is kinda like one of those games where you're stuck in a virtually inescapable arena and then a giant chicken boss appears and you have to slay it to proceed. And that's what I intend to do."

**"G-"**

"What kind of game has a giant chicken as a boss?" Elizabeth snapped.

"Monster Hunter maybe?"

**"GUYS I'M NOT A CHICKEN, AND WILL NEVER BE RELATED TO, OR BE ASSOCIATED WITH CHICKENS IN MY ENTIRE LIFESPAN. EVER."**

The sudden outburst by the Kut Ku left Hishoji and Elizabeth stunned.

"That's not what the inter-" Hishoji started, but was cut off by a shrill scream from the monster.

**"SCREW WHATEVER YOU HEARD AT THIS INTERNET PLACE! I. AM. NOT. A. CHICKEN!" **The Kut Ku started jumping about in rage, and then charged at the two without warning.

* * *

><p>"So," Volt sat down beside Ayumi, who was still observing Wendy, the Daora, as she slept. "What do you think Hishoji is gonna say when he comes back and finds out we have a pet Elder Dragon?"<p>

"I'm not sure myself, but he probably won't object to it. At least, I hope he won't."

"Well at least it's good that we have something to look after the house in case something unfortunate happens, eh?"

"I suppose," Ayumi shook a little.

"Shouldn't you like, take a shower? You might catch a cold otherwise."

"Nah, it's fine," She shook her head and walked to the window, placing her hands on the windowsill. "I hope Hishoji's day went better than ours."

* * *

><p>Hishoji winced in pain as he avoided the Kut Ku's charge for the fifth time in a row. Even though it was fast, the Kut Ku's relatively small size made it easy to avoid. Hishoji's lack of stamina, however, was seriously impeding his ability to fight the Kut Ku. His legs were already beginning to feel like they were on fire, and the constant evading was making it worse.<p>

_Uh, now might be a good time for someone to swap with me. That means you, Shinki._

_Now why would I do that?_ Shinki's voice responded.

_Because I'm not gonna last any longer at the rate I'm going?_

_But I thought you intended to slay the giant chicken yourself?_

_I'm in no mood to play word games with you, Shinki. Seriously, swap. Now._

_And I'm in no mood to kill a chicken. Do it yourself._ Shinki sounded adamant about not helping.

The Kut Ku got up from the ground, turned to Hishoji, and cocked its head to one side.

**"Hey no cheating! One mind at a time!"**

Hishoji gave a puzzled look at the Kut Ku. _Does he know about Shinki and Kuroi?_

**"Do I, indeed." **The Kut Ku's eyes seemed to glint slightly.

Hishoji frowned, then swung out wildly with his arm at the Kut Ku, who avoided each swing with ease by simply hopping backwards.

"Dammit, how am I supposed to hit something who can already tell what attack I'm going to use?"

"Try thinking of nothing then?" Elizabeth suggested from the other side of the clearing. The Kut Ku had seemed to have forgotten about her, since all of its attacks for the past couple of minutes had been directed at Hishoji.

**"You're starting to really annoy me girl,"** The Kut Ku turned to Elizabeth and started to move towards her, **"If you won't stay quiet then I might as well finish you off along with-"**

The Kut Ku got no further before Hishoji jumped forward and threw his right fist forward, connecting it with the Bird Wyvern's beak.

"Holy shit, I got him!" Hishoji stared in amazement as his attack literally sent the Kut Ku flying. At the point of impact it had felt like he was hitting a wall, but then a split second later the Kut Ku was sailing through the air from the attack.

"Whoa," Elizabeth's jaw dropped at what Hishoji's attack did. "How did you- what?"

The Kut Ku had crashed onto the floor several meters away, and was shaking its head in confusion at what had happened. Seeing Hishoji rubbing his fist, it quickly put two and two together and let out a hoarse growl at Hishoji as it got up.

**"Argh! I just got calm again, and you have to go ahead and make me angry once more!"** It charged at Hishoji again. ****"You're so dead, man! Dead!"****

Hishoji wound back his arm for another punch, but the Kut Ku stopped its charge abruptly and flew backwards just before Hishoji's attack hit.

**"Ha! Did you forget that I could read your mind?" **It crowed at Hishoji.

_I believe it's weakness is that it can only read the mind of who it is currently facing, which would explain why it couldn't see your attack coming when its attention was towards Elizabeth._ Kuroi advised. _Try to make it look away from you, then launch an attack._

_Gotcha. Wait, it's looking at me now. Does that mean-_

**"Okay seriously, don't do that. It's disconcerting enough to have to hear two voices, but three is pushing it."** The Kut Ku looked at Hishoji as the runes on its ears glowed brighter, **"Keep it fair man, three against one can hardly be called an even fight."**

Hishoji ignored the Kut Ku and instead hollered at Elizabeth. "Hey, I need you to attack this chicken while he's not looking at you!"

Elizabeth nodded and started to approach the two of them.

**"Oh please,"** The Kut Ku rolled its eyes. **"You realize I can call your bluff because I can read your mind?"**

"And you realize that if I focus only on you and not her, you can't read my mind to tell if she really _is_ attacking?"

**"Ha, I call your bluff once more. She can't attack me because she doesn't have any weapons on her, I read that from your mind earlier!"**

"Oi, chicken!" Elizabeth called out as she was within reach.

The Kut Ku turned, annoyed once again. **"WHAT?"**

Elizabeth's sports shoe hit it square in the face, causing it to stagger. The Kut Ku recovered quickly, but just as it realized its fatal mistake and turned back, Hishoji took the opportunity to throw a punch with his left fist.

The attack hit the Kut Ku on the beak again, and it crashed into a heap on the floor, completely knocked out.

* * *

><p>"So what did you call this thing again?" Elizabeth prodded the Kut Ku with her finger, amazed that such an odd creature actually exists.<p>

"A Kut Ku. It's a chicken. Well more Bird Wyvern than chicken, but whatever. And I won't get too close to it if I were you, it ain't dead, just knocked out."

Elizabeth jumped back, suddenly remembering that it was still a monster.

"You got a lot of explaining to do anyway. There is no way any normal person could make a creature of this mass fly in that manner."

"It wasn't exactly painless for me too, you know," Hishoji rubbed his left knuckle. For some reason it had hurt more when he used his left fist to punch rather than his right.

_That's cause you're using the wrong hand, you stupid shit. The red one is for punching, the black one is for slicing. Although they could work both ways, I guess,_ Shinki's face smirked inside Hishoji's mind.

_Yeah, whatever. You sure helped lots._ Hishoji replied sarcastically. _And speaking of the black glove, where was Kuroi just now? I could have done with his help._

_Well, I apologize if the advice I offered you wasn't enough. I was checking a theory of mine out through watching you battle the Kut Ku._ Kuroi replied.

_What kind of theory?_

_From your viewpoint you might not have seen it since you were concentrating on defeating the Kut Ku, but there were multiple instances where the tip of the Kut Ku's tail actually went through some tree trunks and left them without a scratch._ Kuroi sounded deep in thought as he said this.

_And what's that supposed to mean?_

_That this whole place is naught but an illusion._

As soon as Kuroi said that, the entire forest seemingly evaporated into thin air, leaving Hishoji and Elizabeth bewildered.

"Okay...someone explain to me what's going on." Elizabeth's eyes narrowed due to the bright sunlight as she took in the surroundings. They were apparently back at the area before they had entered the forest.

**"Get up, Jiken."** A black robed figure appeared, and kicked the Kut Ku hard in its face, causing it to grunt and wake up disorientated. The figure turned to Hishoji. **"Just remember, it's only as real as you believe it to be."**

_That phrase, and this illusion...Shinki, this remind you of anyone?_

_Mirage?_ Shinki didn't sound happy.

The Kut Ku looked from Hishoji to the robed figure. **"They know."  
><strong>

The robed figure nodded, then turned and vanished into thin air along with the Kut Ku.

"The heck just happened?" Elizabeth looked at Hishoji.

"You're asking me?"

* * *

><p>The two students made their way back into school promptly, only to find that the sports lesson had been over for an hour. Disheartened as this was her first time that she was unable to complete a run, Elizabeth insisted that Hishoji apologized to their sports teacher together with her.<p>

"Damn, why the hell do I have to do this?" Hishoji muttered as he walked alongside Elizabeth in the corridor. "Screw this, I'm going to the toilet."

"Make it fast please, we still have class," Elizabeth sighed, and then noticed their sports teacher walking briskly towards them. "Oh look, he's coming this way."

Elizabeth went ahead to apologize, while Hishoji took the chance to sneak away.

"Mr Aloysius, I'm sor-" She didn't finish her sentence before the teacher passed _right through _her body, as if he wasn't even solid. "What the?"

She turned around to look at him, and the sports teacher did the same. Something flew from the latter's palm, and Elizabeth caught it with her hands.

"Never forget, it's only as real as you believe it to be." Mr Edward smiled a knowing smile, and continued on his way, becoming first transparent, then disappearing completely before he finished walking down the corridor.

Elizabeth looked at the object she had caught.

It was a very shiny coin.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note : So yeah, like I said last chapter, I'll be going on a one month hiatus after this chapter due to exams. Sorry to end this so abruptly, but if I don't score well in my exams then I can't even be on the computer anymore. I won't be quitting for sure, as this is something I actually enjoy doing in my free time (even if it sucks.), so yeah. And besides my long term goal was to feature every single monster possible, so you can expect the chapters to go well into the hundreds. (Be that a bad or good thing is up to you.)<strong>

**And the Kut Ku's name really is Jiken. Now you know why he's so annoyed, eh?**

**Well, see all of you in a month's time, and stay safe until then!**


	15. A promise is a promise

**Author's Note : Sorry about being the chapter being overdue. Been kinda busy trying to catch up on all the games I missed while I was studying, hehe. Well, I'm back (until the end of semester exams at least). I also need to do some major rethinking of my chapters from this point on, so I might update at a slightly slower pace.**

* * *

><p>Thankfully for Hishoji, the remaining hours at school passed by without incident, although he did glance up from his PSP to catch Elizabeth staring at him blankly from time to time.<p>

So _of course_ she was at the school gate waiting for him after class ended. Hishoji quickened his pace when he saw her approaching, but there was no delaying the inevitable.

"Okay, school's over. Now how about you start telling me what's going on?" She said as soon as she caught up to him.

Hishoji sighed and filled her in on the situation quickly - how he had released the monsters, how he and Ayumi are somewhat monster hunters now, and about the internal conflict between the Elder Dragons.

All the while Elizabeth listened quietly, with the exception of her muttering "I'm sorry" when Hishoji got to the part about his parents.

When he had finished, Elizabeth stayed quiet, digesting all the information he had given.

"You know," she spoke after a long silence, "If what you say is true and that there are huge amounts of monsters out there simply waiting to tear you apart at every chance they get, how are you going to handle them with just you and your sister?"

"We have Volt too."

"That's still only three against an unknown number of monsters," Elizabeth started to play with one of her ponytails, "I volunteer myself to help you out."

Hishoji nearly choked on his saliva.

"WHAT? Oh no, no no no, _hell _no. You'd be nothing more than a liability to us. I mean, I've got Shinki and Kuroi, Ayumi has Shira, and Volt is more or less an established hunter. What can you do?"

"That chicken and the robed person already saw my face. Like it or not, I'm already involved in this. Oh, and speaking of that, something happened earlier today when I went to apologize to Mr Aloysius."

She related how their sports teacher had passed through her like a ghost, tossed her penny she thought was lost in the "forest" back to her.

"So what you're trying to say is," Hishoji stopped walking and folded his arms, "Mr Aloysius is actually the person underneath the robe?"

"Maybe. See, right after that incident I went to the staff room to find him again, but the teacher at the counter told me Mr Aloysius had called in sick today," She looked at Hishoji in the eyes, "Apparently he had called in sick just after our class left for the run. What's odd is that when I asked around, no one else except us had seen him during sports class."

"Wait, what? What's that supposed to imply? That our teacher is an illusion as well?"

"It's not impossible. If that person could make an illusion of an entire forest in seconds, making an illusion of someone should be child's play." She took out the penny "Mr Aloysius" had threw at her earlier and started to inspect it for any damage.

"Doesn't that mean that the figure could literally transform him or herself into someone we know and we won't even know it?"

"Unless we somehow manage to break the illusion, then yes."

There was a sudden silence as the two of them looked at each other for a moment, the same thought running through their heads.

_"You're an illusion!"_ Both of them exclaimed at the same time. When nothing happened, the two breathed a sigh of relief.

"I have to admit, that was pretty funny," Hishoji smiled.

"Yeah," Elizabeth looked towards the road ahead, where some people were scattering as though running from something. "Hey, I think something's up over there."

* * *

><p><strong>"Damn right, they better run!"<strong>The Great Furogi muttered softly and limped forward, the Great Baggi a few steps behind it.

Both of their conditions were looking pretty bad after the battle with the dromes earlier. The Great Furogi's poison sac and the Great Baggi's crest had both been broken off, and their bodies were laced with multiple injuries.

Still, they had been victorious, although in their current state they could not transform into electricity without risking their own lives. The had originally intended to rest in a remotely deserted area, but several passersby had spotted them and created a commotion over what they were.

The two Bird Wyverns didn't take nicely to the crowd that had gathered in front of them, and lashed out viciously whenever someone got too close. Their attacks all missed their mark however, as the strain on their body was too much and made it difficult to land a hit on anything.

The daredevils amongst the small crowd were already whipping out their cellphones to take video recordings of the two from afar, and the two were getting worried about that. It might compromise Alatreon's plan of keeping quiet until the Fatalis trio were done with.

Which is why they were both stunned at the sight of Hishoji and another girl appearing in front of them. They did not recognize the girl, but the Vespoids had spread the word of the two Fatalis residing in Hishoji and what he looked like. The mismatched gloves were also a dead giveaway.

**"Hey, you're the..."**The Great Furogi narrowed its eyes and then howled.

Cries of "It spoke!" and "That thing can talk?" were heard throughout the small crowd, which quickly dispersed as the two Bird Wyverns rushed forward with a newly found source of energy : Their desire to kill Hishoji.

* * *

><p>Hishoji hardly had time to register what was going on; one moment he was staring dumbly at the two limping Bird Wyverns, the next he was running towards a deserted alley with Elizabeth pulling him along.<p>

"S-stop...no...stamina," Hishoji wheezed, and held onto a nearby pole to support himself.

"I guess we could stop now," Elizabeth was a bit out of breath herself, "At least here they won't harm any bystanders."

"But...we...dead end." Hishoji pointed to the wall in front.

"Can't you beat the living daylights out of them like you did with that chicken?"

"I'll...try," His legs were beginning to burn up again, as they always did when he ran.

He turned towards the entrance to the alley, and right on cue the two Bird Wyverns appeared, eyes mad with blood-lust. As one, they spat on the ground, and the properties of their spit mixed to create a thick fog which both obscured vision and had a purple tinge to it. Hishoji reckoned that the purple tinge meant that the fog was poisonous, and this meant that the fog effectively sealed off the only way out.

**"What about that girl with him?"** The Great Baggi licked its lips. **"Could she be the sister that the Vespoids told us about?"**

**"I doubt it. If she really was the vessel's sister then she would have drawn her weapon by now. Just to be safe though, let's get the both of them,"** The Great Furogi replied, and together they moved forward, closing the gap between them and Hishoji.

Now that they were actually seeing the Bird Wyverns up close, both Hishoji and Elizabeth noticed how huge they were in size compared to an average human being. The two would be at least a head taller than the Kut Ku they encountered earlier were they to stand to their full height.

"I suppose that fog means no one can see us?" Elizabeth asked the two.

**"Yes, yes, no one will come to your funeral. Now, say "nighty night" for the last time in your life!"**The Great Baggi threw its spit towards Hishoji, who was unable to avoid it due to him still trying to catch his breath.

"You...aszzzz," Hishoji didn't finish his sentence before sleep overtook him and he collapsed onto the ground.

A cunning smile appeared on the Great Baggi's face. **"One down."**

* * *

><p>"Aw come the hell on, I wasn't even ready," Hishoji grumbled and sat down on a sofa that suddenly appeared. He was back inside that area in his mind again, which meant that he had fallen unconscious. "That attack was just cheap."<p>

"Really, you should be more mindful of your opponent's attacks," Kuroi appeared beside him on the sofa sipping his tea, "It would do none of us any good if you got killed before you even land a single blow on the enemy."

"Wait, if you and I are here, doesn't that mean- oh boy," Hishoji looked around for any sign of Shinki. Finding none, he turned to Kuroi. "Please tell me Shinki isn't using my body right now."

Kuroi shrugged. "Bit too late now, isn't it?"

"Dammit, is there a way to see what he's doing?" Hishoji didn't like not knowing what Shinki was doing while he was in control.

"Sure," Kuroi snapped his fingers, and a device that resembled a television sprung up in front of the two. It turned on with a buzz, although the screen remained black. "Give it a while. We're viewing this directly through Shinki's eyes, so it's still black because he hasn't opened them yet._"_

* * *

><p>"Hishoji? Wake up!" Elizabeth shook Hishoji's body desperately. Getting no response, she backed off slowly from the approaching Bird Wyverns.<p>

**"It's useless," **The Great Baggi laughed. **"Our one-two combo of sleep and poison is enough to knock nearly everything out. Once you get hit by my sleeping gas, you become as helpless as a baby."**

**"And then, while you're enjoying a nap, I'll hit you with my poison," **The Great Furogi placed one of its foot on Hishoji and prepared to use its poisonous spit on him. **"And once you get hit by that, you'll slowly suffocate to death. A very nice way to die, don't you think?"**

"Why yes," Shinki pushed the Great Furogi's foot off and picked himself up as a fiery aura swathed around him. "I do think it's a nice way to die."

**"Impossible! How did you- never mind. Take this!"**The Great Furogi's broken sac expanded slightly, and a mist of poison was sent towards Shinki, who went past it without as much as a cough.

"Obviously someone didn't hear how long an Elder Dragon could hold his breath," Shinki's arm flew forward and latched onto the Great Furogi's sac, causing the latter to yelp. "I wonder what happens if I do this?"

His grip on the sac tightened, which caused the Great Furogi to make a weird squawking sound.

"Huh, this must be where the 'bird' in 'Bird Wyvern' comes in. I didn't know you guys could squawk like that," Shinki laughed and tightened his grip further, strangling the Great Furogi.

**"Enough, or this girl dies,"**The Great Baggi had slowly moved in on Elizabeth as Shinki was amusing himself by choking the Great Furogi, and was now behind her with his talons at her throat.

"Huh? Like I give a damn about her," Shinki gave a bored look at the Great Baggi holding Elizabeth hostage, and went back the choking the life out of the Great Furogi, whose eyes were now bulging out of their sockets. "Come on, squawk some more, you orange bird."

* * *

><p>"Oi," Hishoji hollered, "You might not give a shit, but she's my classmate! Don't let innocent people die like that!"<p>

"Calm down, Hishoji," Kuroi took out a pack of snacks out of his coat, "I'm sure Shinki knows what he's doing."

"Are you kidding me?" Hishoji sighed, "It's Shinki. You _never_ know what he's thinking."

"Point taken," Kuroi chewed on a cookie, "Knowing him the way I do though, he has something up his sleeve."

* * *

><p><strong>"I'm serious,"<strong>The Great Baggi's face darkened as his talons cut Elizabeth's throat a little, causing a thin trickle of blood to appear.

"Oh damn, the little shit says he wants her to live. Tell you what, I'll trade your little squawking friend here for that girl," Shinki turned to the Great Baggi, "Provided you get out of here and go back to wherever the hell it is you came from."

**"And how do I know you won't turn around and kill the both of us while we're running?"**

"I give you my word," Shinki replied. "As an Elder Dragon."

* * *

><p>"Yeah right, like his word is even worth anything," Hishoji muttered, "Who'd be stupid enough to believe someone like him?"<p>

"Actually, it _is_ worth something," Kuroi looked at Hishoji, "Elder Dragons never break their promises. It's sort of a untold rule."

"Wait, so what happens if you do break it?"

"Not a single Elder Dragon has broken their word to date, so I'm not exactly too clear on this matter either." Kuroi shrugged and swallowed the cookie, "I suppose it has something to do with Elder Dragons simply being the best amongst other monsters, but the rumor is that that we would be stripped of our Elder Dragon title once we break a promise."

"That's not so bad, right?" Losing a title didn't sound that bad to Hishoji.

"You have no idea how important that title is, do you?" Kuroi's face darkened. "Think of it as dropping in status to a pauper when you were originally a king. You will be disgraced by every monster you encounter for the rest of your miserable life, and be a social outcast until the day you die, alone, without any friends or family to mark your grave."

"Okay, if you put it that way, it sounds like you would be better off dead than breaking a promise."

"You are, but only if you're an Elder Dragon," Kuroi took out another cookie and began eating with a vengeance. "Anyway, I propose we see how Shinki handles this situation."

* * *

><p><strong>"<strong>**Elder Dragon? Then you must be one of the Fatalis. In that case, you really can't break a promise.****"** The Great Baggi edged towards the entrance to the alley with Elizabeth in tow. **"Release my companion first, ****and then I'll hand over the girl.****"**

"No, you release the girl first."

The Great Baggi cursed and pushed Elizabeth to Shinki, after which Shinki tossed the Great Furogi over to the Great Baggi. The Great Furogi spat out blood as it tried to speak, and in the end gave up on talking and just trudged along after the Great Baggi.

**"Remember what you promised,"** The Great Baggi growled, and moved slowly towards the entrance. **"****And the penalty that comes along with breaking a promise."**

"Yeah, yeah, I will. I promised not to turn around and kill the both of you while you're running. I didn't promise not to _not_ turn around and kill one of you while you're limping. And look, there's no ceiling." Shinki giggled and snapped his fingers, causing a tiny meteorite to crash onto the Great Furogi, imploding it on the spot, while the force of the impact sent the Great Baggi flying.

**"****You bastard!"**The Great Baggi quickly gathered what remaining energy it had to escape into a nearby power line by turning into electricity before it hit a wall. It was risky to perform such a maneuver while still injured, but had it not done so it would certainly have been killed by the impact upon slamming into the wall.

"And remember, I didn't go back on my promise. You simply weren't _specific_ enough. Loopholes, so many loopholes." Shinki called out as the Great Baggi disappeared, and then turned to a shaken Elizabeth. "So uh...who the shit are you again?"


	16. Must be the heat

**Author's notes : This chapter is...well, more or less filler. Having some trouble with the original story now, probably writer's block. Ironically, this is because I've been sleeping well. I actually get all my ideas during the nights that I _don't _sleep well, you know? Brain sorta goes spastic inside my head until I type everything out on my laptop. Anyway, it's nothing for you guys to worry about, since it'll be a while before I catch up to the original story.**

* * *

><p>"Um, you're one of the monsters inside the weapon Hishoji told me about?" Elizabeth looked into Shinki's eyes nervously.<p>

"Monster is an understatement," Shinki kicked a piece of the Great Furogi away, "And I don't like repeating myself. Your name."

"Elizabeth," She replied, having put two and two together quickly. "I'd like Hishoji back now, if possible."

"What's the rush? It's not as if the twerp's gonna- AAAACK!" Shinki began to roll on the floor as one of his eyes turned black.

"I'm terribly sorry about this, brother dear, but our good friend wants his body back, and I'm sure his friend over here does as well," Kuroi's voice emerged out of the mouth of Hishoji's body, which was horribly distorted due to the two entities fighting for control within. "Good day to you, miss."

The pupils returned to Hishoji's eyes as he regained control and stood up groaning in pain. Kuroi was right when he said that using the same technique to get back control would not work as well as it did the first time. Then again, who knew what ideas Shinki would get, being alone in an deserted alley with Elizabeth?

_I'll give you an idea. You'll rue the day when that giant black ape is killed by me and the deal we made is broken. Why the hell did I even make such a deal with a little shit like you?_ Shinki grumbled and then suddenly went silent, probably plotting his revenge on Hishoji.

"Well that was something different," Elizabeth commented as Hishoji looked at the remains of the Great Furogi splattered all over the wall in front of him. "Not really what I had expected, but really, is he that bad of a person? I mean, he did save me and all."

"Okay, first of all, he is not a person. And secondly, he only saved you because I requested it to be done. He would be more glad to see you become minced meat than anything else, I can guarantee that," Hishoji grimaced as he picked up gathered what he could of the dead monster and stuffed them into his bag. "This is utterly disgusting. I hope Mark can manage to get rid of everything. Don't want my bag to be smelling of rotten monster remains."

Elizabeth made a face at what Hishoji was doing. "What are you even collecting them for?"

"Gonna send it back inside Mark, of course." Hishoji appeared to want to continue talking for a second, and then stopped. "Let's just move fast, shall we? The remains are sorta slushing around inside my bag."

"And you didn't even ask if I was alright after all that drama with the stupid blue dinosaur," Elizabeth muttered under her breath.

"Huh? You said something?" Hishoji turned around.

"Nope."

* * *

><p><strong>"You did WHAT?"<strong>

**"You heard,"**The Great Baggi licked at its wounds. It had placed its own life in danger by changing into electricity on its body as it was being thrown through the air, due to the amount of strength required to perform the action. While it had survived, the Great Baggi was now beginning to question itself over whether it had done the right thing. After all, Alatreon certainly won't be a happy Elder Dragon once it heard what had happened.

**"Don't you DARE take that sort of attitude with me,"** Alatreon's voice pitch became dangerously low, **"****Did you not understand me when I said that life was going to be hell should you fail to kill the humans?****"**

Icicles began to form themselves all around the Great Baggi, who simply closed its eyes and prepared to accept death. The killing blow never came, however, for before a single icicle could hit its mark they were all blown away by a gust of wind.

**"Now, now Ala, don't go all violent on your subordinates like that. It isn't a good example for others to follow,"** The Amatsu who had summoned the winds floated down slowly. **"Tell you what, how about you let me handle this?"**

**"Zarklyion..."** Alatreon growled softly, then turned away. **"Do whatever you want with him. Just get that pathetic wrench out of my sight."**

**"Of course,"** Zarklyion drifted away while pushing the Great Baggi along, and once out of earshot of Alatreon, a sly look overtook his eyes. **"Say ****now****, ****I've been watching you for quite a while, and could easily tell that you aren't happy with our current leader. Tell me,**** how would you like to be part of a little ****_rebellion_****?"**

* * *

><p>"What's with all the detours?" Elizabeth asked Hishoji as she realized that they had been walking around for over half an hour.<p>

"I don't know, I'm just afraid people might be following us ever since we came out of that alley," Hishoji answered as the pair took another turn. "Don't you think we look pretty suspicious, getting chased into the alley by two Bird Wyverns and emerging mostly unharmed while one of the Bird Wyverns had died and the other went missing?"

"Yeah, I think we look even more suspicious seeing as we're walking in circles, and you're holding the remains of the dinosaur that died inside your bag. Seriously that's just disgusting."

"Eh, I'm just hoping that those would be enough for Mark to scan in," Hishoji shrugged, "With some luck the rest of the pieces would vanish once one of them is registered inside Mark."

"What about the one that escaped?"

"We'll probably see it again. And I really hope you know what kind of deep shit you're getting yourself into."

"I guess we'll see soon enough, hm?" The pair stopped outside Hishoji's house.

"Right, here we go," Hishoji took a death breath and entered, followed by Elizabeth. Volt was sitting on the sofa in the living room, and Ayumi seemed to be having a casual conversation with him.

"Welcome back," Ayumi smiled as she noticed Hishoji entering, "I've got a surprise for you!"

"Yeah, me too," Hishoji cleared his throat and jerked a thumb at Elizabeth, "Okay guys, this is Elizabeth. We ran into some monster problems, so she's volunteering to help us out."

Ayumi gave a puzzled look at Elizabeth, who merely smiled. Volt simply nodded an acknowledgment, although it was not like anyone could tell what his facial expression was due to the helmet always covering his face.

"Elizabeth, this is Ayumi, Volt, and that...uh..." Hishoji rubbed his eyes as his gaze fixated itself on the Elder Dragon of Wind behind Ayumi. "That...must be an illusion from the heat. _Please_ tell me it's the heat."

Wendy stepped forward, lowering her head and snorting at Hishoji.

**"Do I ****_look_**** like an illusion to you?"**


	17. Who knew?

**Author's notes : In case you guys haven't figured it out, the monsters are all normally hidden within an electric appliance of some sort (unless stated otherwise), and this 'area' can be modified by them to suit their needs. Also, finally got past that writer's block. Forward to yayness!  
><strong>

* * *

><p>"Okay, you aren't an illusion. So someone tell me. What is a Kushala Daora doing in the house?" Hishoji sighed as he said this. <em>As if three Elder Dragons weren't enough...<em>

"Um, do you want the long version or the short version?" Ayumi asked.

"The fast version."

"Alright, so Wendy here was outside, and-"

"Wait. You guys even gave it a NAME?" Hishoji exclaimed, and let out a yell of surprise as a gust of wind swept him off his feet, making him fall over.

**"Not 'it'. 'Her',"** Wendy raised her head back to her full height, then glanced at Ayumi. **"Is he your butler?"**

"Brother. He's my brother," Ayumi said as she helped Hishoji up. "And please stop tripping everyone. It's sort of rude."

**"My apologies then, lady Shira."**

"I'm not Shira, I'm Ayumi." She sounded exasperated.

**"She's using you as a vessel, so I consider you one and the same."**

"Is she always like this?" Hishoji raised an eyebrow.

"I'd say yes," Volt answered from the sofa. Wendy shot him a look of anger, which caused him to quickly turn around and go back to inspecting his weapon. "Never mind, scratch what I just said. Don't want another freak wind sending me flying again."

Hishoji fully sympathized with Volt on his last sentence, and was just about to say something else when an odd feeling made itself present in his head.

"Hmm? Is that Wendy I see?" Kuroi's voice echoed around inside Hishoji's mind, and it was still an effect which the latter had yet to get used to. "I suppose I better make my presence known then."

"Wait, what? Don't just-" Ignoring Hishoji's protest, Kuroi initiated a quick take over of his body, and flashed a charming smile at the Elder Dragon of Wind. "Good afternoon, Wendy. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

**"Kuroi? Now fancy seeing you in the same state as lady Shira over here. Not completely unexpected though, seeing as how all three of you went and died at the same time," **Wendy looked around uncomfortably. **"Ah, I probably shouldn't run my mouth off like that. Speaking of three though, where's the last one?"**

"Shinki? Give me a moment, I'll get him for you," The color of Kuroi's eyes shifted from black to a bloody crimson, and the tone of the voice that emerged from his lips changed completely. "Wendy dear! How..._nice_"- the word was spat with some effort on Shinki's part - "to see you again."

**"Yeah, nice to see you too," **Wendy didn't seem too enthusiastic. **"But having both the Black _and_ the Crimson Fatalis inside one body...isn't that a bit dangerous?"**

"Not as much as it is annoying," Hishoji snapped the moment he was returned control of his body. "Seriously, don't just randomly hijack me like that, give me a warning or something next time."

"Wendy, Shinki didn't seem very happy to see you," Ayumi had been observing the Elder Dragon's behavior carefully. "Is there some bad blood between you two or something?"

**"You could say that," **The Elder Dragon frowned a little. **"Actually, aside from Kuroi and lady Shira, almost every other monster hates or at least dislikes Shinki to an extent. His attitude doesn't help, either."**

_Remind me to make Wendy suffer for saying some day._ Shinki growled from inside Hishoji's mind.

"Damn Elder Dragons and your complicated relationships. Look, you guys can explain everything later. We need to get back to business," Hishoji looked around, "Has anyone seen Mark?"

* * *

><p>After Hishoji found Mark inside his room, the entire group gathered around the living room table, where they related the events of the day to each other. Ayumi and Volt went first, while Hishoji listened intently. He wasn't too trusting of Wendy at first, but relaxed a little after hearing the two out. Elizabeth then told the former two about her situation and how she was somewhat dragged into the mess due to circumstances.<p>

"But what use are you going to be?" Volt asked bluntly a moment after Elizabeth finished.

"Funny, that's exactly what I said on the way home," Hishoji turned to Elizabeth, "Seriously, what _can _you use?"

"I take archery as a sport," Elizabeth stated matter-of-factually. "Would that work?"

_"Ho! Archery, you say?"_ Mark flew up in a flash, which surprised Elizabeth. She had heard from Hishoji about his PSP being alive, but hearing about something and witnessing it firsthand were two different things entirely. _"I suppose a bow would do. Now, which one to pick..."_

_"Okay, how about this one?"_ A flash of light filled the room, and then a bow appeared atop the table.

"Nice," Elizabeth picked it up without hesitation. The black bow had a slender look to it, with a width spanning almost two third of her entire body length. A white ribbon was tied to both ends of the bow, giving it a strangely calming aura. She gave the string a tug, creating a twanging sound that somehow brought forth strong feelings of sadness.

"So what about the arrows?" Elizabeth asked after a long while.

_"Uh about that, well I was thinking, maybe if you attached me to your butt or something, you'll be able to have infinite arrows to use,"_ Mark sounded hopeful. _"I can generate all the arrows you'll __ever nee-"_

"Wait," Hishoji interrupted, "Did you just say you want to be attached to her _butt_?"

_"Uh, that's typically where all the archers draw their arrows from in the game so..." _His voice trailed off.

An awkward silence followed afterwards as Elizabeth turned red in the face.

"Right, whatever, change of topic," Hishoji muttered, and dumped the remains of the Great Furogi on the table. "Mark, get this piece of meat into your screen."

Mark appeared to want to continue about the original topic, but stopped as he realized everyone was glaring at him, Elizabeth in particular.

_"Well, it was worth a shot anyway," _Mark's screen brightened and dematerialized the piece of the Great Furogi.

"Okay, now that we've cleared everything up, I'm going to check out a hunch of mine," Hishoji grabbed Mark and stuffed him into his pocket, "So why don't you guys have a nice long chat over here?"

* * *

><p>"So who knew that contraption was perverted?" Volt broke the silence.<p>

"I do wonder though, why didn't he ask the same thing of me?" Ayumi asked, and then gasped as she placed her hands over her mouth. "Oops. I said that out loud didn't I?"

"Heh," Volt chuckled, " Maybe that's because you aren't se-WOOOOOOAH!"

Wendy had let loose a gust of wind in his face at point blank, preventing him from finishing the sentence.

**"You will NOT insult lady Shira in any manner whatsoever if you know what is good for you."**

"R-right," Volt stammered, and then silently cursed Wendy. "I'm starting to see why Hishoji hates Elder Dragons."

Elizabeth, meanwhile, was more focused on the bow than the spectacle happening in front of her. Ayumi noticed this, and decided to take the initiative.

"That bow really is something huh, Elizabeth?" Ayumi asked in a friendly tone.

"Huh?" Elizabeth blinked as she heard her name. "Yeah, it is. I'm trying to think of a name for it."

"I've never even seen that bow before in my career," Volt said as he moved his head closer to look at the bow, "Doesn't even look like it's made from a monster."

"**It _is _made from a monster. From the webbing and heartstring of one of my species, to be precise," **Wendy's eyes had a faraway look in them as she spoke. **"The limb is made of Yew, and the ribbons, satin."**

"You seem to know an awful lot about this bow, Wendy," Ayumi looked at the Elder Dragon, whose attention was still on the bow. "Are you familiar with it?"

**"More than familiar. We have a story involving this bow that has been passed down the Daora clan for generations, but that's for another day. As for you, girl," **Wendy looked at Elizabeth. **"The bow's name is Dream Apollo XIII. I'd appreciate it if you would keep the name."**

"Dream Apollo?" Elizabeth considered the name. "It is a pretty good name. Guess I'll just call it that then."

**"Good. She would be glad that someone else was able to use the bow's powers," **The Elder Dragon smiled for the first time since Elizabeth had entered the house, then noticed the other three giving her a puzzled look. **"I'm talking about the previous hunter that was the owner of this bow. We were acquainted."**

"Must be a pretty awesome hunter to be able to get a weapon like that," Volt didn't tell the others, but the bow was somehow giving him an odd sense of nostalgia. He seemed to remembering seeing it before, but he couldn't put a finger on exactly where and when he had seen it. "Even gives off a aura of power from a distance."

_That bow..._ Shira's voice was but a whisper, but it was distinct enough such that Ayumi could hear it even as the others were talking. _It seems somewhat familiar..._

_You've seen it somewhere before too, Shira?  
><em>

_Yes, but...it gives me a feeling of dread. Quite the exact opposite of what you and the others are feeling right now, in fact._ Shira gasped for a moment, as though she had just realized something. _Of course. How could I have forgotten? This was the very bow the hunter that slain me had used._

* * *

><p><em>"You know, you're missing out on the fun,"<em> Mark commented as Hishoji turned his desktop on. _"Shouldn't you be having one of those bonding sessions or whatever with them?"_

"Like you're in any position to give me advice, you sick pervert," Hishoji stretched himself out on his chair. "So earlier today people were filming the two Bird Wyverns as they moved along the street. I'm just worried that they managed to film us as well, since the two of them went after us."

_"And you brought me here because?"_

"I know you can do something about it if we really _were_ caught on tape," Hishoji double clicked on his browser and went to a certain famous video sharing site. "Right, can you perform a full search for any videos related to the incident?"

_"Hey I hate to break it to you, but there's something called a Search Bar."_

"And why would I use the Search Bar when I have a PSP capable of doing insane things not possible in this day and age? Besides, I want to do a complete wipe of any video that has evidence of the monsters chasing me or Elizabeth inside."

_"Lazy bum,"_ Mark muttered, and floated over to the screen. _"It's not my fault if something bad happens to your computer. Plug the USB cable in."_

"Jeez, what could happen? You're being paranoid," Hishoji did as he was told, and a moment later the browser automatically began to play a video.

_"This one's the closest I can find. Everything else was either too blurry, of too low quality, or completely missed you and Elizabeth inside. To be safe though, I've wiped them off the web. AND off the video uploader's devices through remote deletion. I'm awesome, I know."_

Hishoji ignored Mark and watched as the video play itself out. It started with someone screaming "GET THIS ON CAM!" and a person gesticulating, Hishoji assumed was the cameraman's friend. The video itself had a very clear view of the street, as the person filming appears to be at the front of the crowd. However, the thing that caught Hishoji's attention was the fact that the main attraction itself was missing. In the place of where the Great Baggi and Furogi were supposed to be was simply thin air.

The video ended shortly after the part where the monsters would begin chasing them. Thankfully their faces weren't caught, as by the time the camera shifted attention to them they were already running towards the alley. Hishoji let out a sigh of relief.

And then his screen went black as smoke began to emit from the top.

"What the-"

_"See, I told you something bad would happen. My futuristic technology must obviously be too much for your weak computer to handl- Oh god wait WHAT ARE YOU-"_

* * *

><p>"So does anyone have any idea how I'm supposed to bring this bow everywhere I go without looking like I'm going for a cosplay convention?" Elizabeth held the bow up in her hands, noticing how much lighter it was compared to the bows she normally used for archery practice.<p>

"That's a good question. Hishoji could disguise his easily, and my Bowgun fits in my bag easily, but a bow that long..." Ayumi thought for a moment, "Maybe there's a way to shorten it?"

"Shorten it, hmm?" Elizabeth inspected the bow closely. "Perhaps if I did this..."

She applied pressure on a point near the satin ribbon, and caused the bow to fold itself until the end of the bow almost touched the middle of it. The same was done with the other end, reducing the overall length of the bow by half.

"Still too long," She applied pressure on the bow again, this time at the middle of it. This caused the bow to fold itself in half, reducing the length dramatically this time. "Cool, now it easily fits into my bag. Pretty amazing how a bow of this length can be shortened this much though."

"Well it DID come from that crazy talking perverted device after all," Volt shrugged, "Who knows what that thing is-"

At this moment there was a scream from Hishoji's room as something flaming came flying out and landed on the floor with a loud thunk.

_"Guys, remind me to stay the hell away from Hishoji the next time he gets angry,"_ Mark shook as his blackened PSP body began to change back to its original color. _"Can someone please hide me? Like, now?"_

* * *

><p><strong>"So pray tell, when are you going to start the rebellion?"<strong> The Great Baggi stared at Zarklyion.

**"Once I gather up enough monsters. I'm not sure how long it'll take exactly, but it's only a matter of time. No one likes serving under a tyrant anyway,"**The Amatsu replied.

**"And how many actually ****_are_**** participating in this rebellion of yours?"**

**"Currently? Let's see, I'm one, and you're two. So yeah, the two of us."**

**"The two of us?" **The Great Baggi echoed.

**"The two of us."** Zarklyion repeated.

**"Right. We're doomed."**

****"Trust me on this one, we just need to bide our time. No point in rushing this as long as Alatreon doesn't figure anything out," ****Zarklyion smiled sinisterly. ****"I got a feeling our numbers are going to go up after the next couple of days."****


	18. Nobody likes Minions : VS Aoashira!

**Author's Notes : Don't expect **_**that**_** many battles from this point onwards. Just saying. Although I **_**could**_** chuck in a battle not from the original story in, but I'm afraid of messing up the timeline and stuffs, so yeah.**

* * *

><p>As the four in the living room each gave a puzzled stare at Mark, who was regenerating faster than the pace at which the flames could burn him, a high pitched squeal sounded from outside the house.<p>

"Oh snap," Volt jumped up with his Switch Axe unsheathed, "I know that sound anywhere."

Wendy merely scoffed. **"Are they courting death by offering themselves up to us?"**

Ayumi and Elizabeth exchanged confused looks, but upon seeing what Volt did they too got up with their weapons at the ready. Or at least Ayumi did. Elizabeth remembered that she had no arrows to use, and squatted down beside Mark.

"So um, gimme a quiver, would you?"

_"Actually a more convenient way would be to sling me over your back,"_ Mark said as the last of the flames died off, _"Quite honestly I'd much rather prefer to be slung over a certain somewhere else, but I guess that place is out of bounds."_

Elizabeth hesitated for a moment, but as the squealing got louder she just shook her head and slung Mark over her back.

"So what are we up against?" Ayumi asked Volt as she loaded her Bowgun with Normal shots.

"Minions. The very annoying type," Volt replied as he stepped towards the front door, where the source of the sound was originating from. "And I think they have a lack of intelligence too, since the only direction they know how to attack from is forward."

**"He means Bullfangoes. And unless I'm mistaken, there's probably a Bulldrome leading them. Take care not to get gored, lady Shira."**Wendy spread her wings as a breeze began to blow from her direction.

"Actually, Wendy, I'll prefer it if you didn't participate in the fight. Especially since it's indoors. You might end up doing more damage than these Bullfangoes things," Ayumi pointed her Bowgun towards the door in anticipation, "How about you just watch and provide support when needed?"

**"Understood,"** Wendy bowed her head and flew upwards as she transformed into electricity. **"I'll keep a watch from up here."**

"Okay, so what's a Bulldrome?" Elizabeth asked as she held her hand over Mark, who materialized an arrow into her hands. "Sweet, infinite arrows."

Two pairs of white tusks pierced the front door, then promptly ripped it off its hinges. The creature to whom the tusks belonged to flailed wildly in an attempt to get the door off, but only succeeded in hitting the door against the walls. When the boar-like monster realized that the door was hopelessly stuck onto its tusks, it grunted angrily and went into a fit of rage.

"That," Volt snickered, "Is a Bulldrome."

"Not very smart, is it?" Ayumi commented as she shot the Bulldrome on the legs, causing it to squeal in pain. As if in response to the squeal, multiple smaller versions of the Bulldrome rushed in from the door. Their tusks were not as developed as the Bulldrome, but still looked sharp enough to inflict some pain if someone ever got hit.

"And I suppose those are the Bullfangoes," Elizabeth said as let loose an arrow from her bow aimed at the Bulldrome, which veered off course and instead killed off one of the Bullfangoes with a direct blow through its eye. "Huh, that's weird, I could have sworn the arrow moved by itself."

_"The bow knows best,"_ Mark replied as he generated another arrow for Elizabeth to fire, _"It won't have earned the title of being legendary otherwise."_

"You sure it isn't Wendy's wind messing with my attacks?" She released another arrow at the Bulldrome, which embedded itself deep into the beast's abdomen.

**"Certainly not. My only concern is for lady Shira," **Wendy's voice echoed from all around the house.

And true enough, Ayumi's bullets were moving and hitting everything at a ridiculous speed due to the wind from Wendy. One moment the bullet was newly fired from the barrel, the next it had went through three of the Bullfangoes' heads without losing velocity. Even her reloading speed seemed significantly faster, as if the wind was guiding her arms.

"Damn, those are some overpowered weapons," Volt muttered. He had been attacking the Bulldrome while the girls prevented the Bullfangoes from getting near him, although the few that did tasted the sharp end of his Switch Axe. The Bulldrome couldn't even see what was happening, and could only turn circles in vain as Volt's Switch Axe made more and more cuts on its hide.

Eventually it gave in to blind fury and decided to simply charge straight ahead and hope that it hits something. Of course, with the door obscuring its vision and with the constantly turning around in circles it had done earlier in order to try to get a better view at Volt, it had not realized that it was now facing a wall merely a few feet in front.

No sooner had it charged that the Bulldrome found itself stuck with its tusks into a wall. The Bulldrome squealed in frustration as its stumpy legs tried to back up, but the amount of strength it had exerted while charging had caused its tusks to be stuck _really_ deep into the wall. The three hunters saw that they didn't have to worry about the Bulldrome for the time being, and focused their attention on the Bullfangoes, quickly doing away with the minions.

When the minions were finally slain, the three turned their attention towards the Bulldrome once again. It was _still_ stuck in the wall, and was quite a humorous sight. But it was still a monster, and had to be slain.

Elizabeth notched another arrow and fired it; this time it pierced the beast's head. But the Bulldrome wasn't about to get a breather, for Ayumi's bullets pierced its hides seconds after Elizabeth's arrow hit. Volt dealt the finishing blow with a diagonal slash from his Switch Axe, aiming at the spots which were damaged by the projectiles from the two girls. The Bulldrome gave one final grunt, then fell sideways and went silent.

"That was one random battle," Volt bent down and inspected the Bulldrome, who had already begun to fizzle away. "Too bad this one isn't an Awakened."

Mark detached himself from Elizabeth and went over to the Bulldrome, made it vanish in a flash of light, and flew back to Elizabeth's back.

_"I don't think Bulldromes actually HAVE an Awakened member amongst their species. They aren't actually very bright."_

"Anyway, good job team! Despite the fact that we're missing one member, we still managed to hold out," Volt praised the two girls, "Especially you, Elizabeth. Your archery skills are amazing. Who taught you how to use a bow?"

"Actually, I think you should praise the bow and not me. Did you not notice how the arrows seemed to change course mid-flight?"

"Uh, guys, let's focus on the problem at hand. How do we fix the door?" Ayumi began to move forward, then froze as a loud "thud" sounded.

**"Who did this to my pets?"** A voice roared from outside, and a short moment later something resembling a large blue bear with spiky brown arms charged into the house on all fours. It gave the area a quick scan, and seeing all the dead Bullfangoes, turned its attention to the three in the living room. **"Which one of you humans did this? WHICH ONE?"**

Volt reacted the quickest out of the three, and swung his Switch Axe sideways at the Aoashira. The Aoashira instinctively swiped at him, and as steel and flesh collided, the latter surprisingly came out on top. Volt cursed as his weapon bounced against the spiked arms of the Aoashira, and then yelled at the girls to start attacking.

The Aoashira didn't intend to let either of the girls move, for it quickly used his speed to his advantage by charging at Ayumi. Which would have been the correct choice seeing as her Bowgun wasn't loaded yet, if not for Wendy who was watching over Ayumi carefully. The moment the Aoashira took a step towards Ayumi, it found a sudden wind hampering his movement.

The two girls took this golden opportunity to load their weapons and unleash a barrage of bullets and arrows upon the bear. The Aoashira wasn't really hurt by the attacks though, for it had raised an arm to prevent the projectiles from hitting its vital spot : its face. The wind-empowered bullets from Ayumi, however, were slowly but surely drilling their way through the Aoashira's thick armored arm.

However, the bear had been slowly inching its way forward despite the wind and projectiles, and finally found itself close enough to the girls. It swiped out blindly, and with a stroke of luck managed to send Ayumi's weapon flying.

**"Lady Shira!"** The wind dropped for an instant as Wendy cried out worriedly, and the Aoashira took the chance to do a full circular swipe. It narrowly missed Elizabeth and Ayumi, who had both evaded the attack, but caught Volt by surprise. The hunter was sent flying from the sheer force of the attack, and crashed in a heap onto the floor.

"Crap," Ayumi muttered as she noticed that the bear was now between her and her Light Bowgun. The Aoashira noticed this and sneered. As it stepped towards Ayumi, the wind which had dropped previously began to pick up speed threefold. Wendy materialized in front of the bear, eyes ablaze with anger.

**"Foolish Pelagus. You will pay for your insolence." **A barrier of wind formed around the Aoashira and slowly began to shrink. The bear attempted to charge out, but whimpered as it realized that the barrier was slicing away at it every time the Aoashira came into contact. Wendy's eyes contained no mercy though, and the last sound that came from the bear was one of despair as the color of the wind became bright red with blood.

"Holy crap, Wendy is scary." Elizabeth stared in amazement at the barrier of wind, which slowly dispersed to reveal the remains of the Aoashira. Nothing was left with the exception of a skull, and even that was cracked and looked as if it will shatter at the slightest breeze.

"Did you cut it up into atoms or something?" Ayumi picked up her bowgun, feeling the familiar tingle on her hand again.

**"You could say that,"** Wendy lowered her head and looked at Ayumi, **"If my lady is angered that I acted by my own, I apologize."**

"It's alright, really," Ayumi smiled, "Thanks for doing that."

Wendy still looked grim however.

**"I suppose I'll go and sleep for now. Call me if you need me."**With that she disappeared once more.

Volt, who had been seeing stars after the Aoashira's last attack on him, shook his head to clear it as he stood up.

"Damn Awakened, how can the Hunter's Guild not know the existence of such absurdly powerful monsters?" He looked around the house, "And what the hell has Hishoji been doing this whole time?"

"You know, that's a good question," Elizabeth said as she looked up at the second floor.

Right on cue, a depressed looking Hishoji came out of his room. As he went down the stairs, he hardly seemed to notice the chaotic scenery before him. Or perhaps he chose to ignore them. Either way, he was muttering to himself as he slowly walked up to Elizabeth.

"Gone. All of it. All gone. Every single game. Wiped out. Can't recover anything. All gone," He looked at Elizabeth, "Do me a favor. Take Mark as far away from me as possible."

Having said that, he staggered back upstairs into his room. Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.

"What was that about?"

"I dunno," Ayumi shrugged, "Must be related to how Mark flew out of Hishoji's room on fire."

"Well...since he has already given me permission, I guess I'll keep the PSP. Infinite arrows is cool after all," Elizabeth held Mark before the Aoashira's skull, which promptly vanished under a bright light, "Problem is, how are you guys going to be able to absorb the monsters or whatever it is Mark does if I'm not around?"

"We'll figure something out," Volt said with a twinkle in his eye, "Guess you'll just have to spend more time with us then eh?"

* * *

><p><strong>"Right, what did you call me here for?"<strong> The Jinouga stared at Alatreon arrogantly.

**"We'll start talking when you stop looking at me like that,"** Alatreon replied. **"I'll have you know I can easily end your life with a single click of my tongue."**

**"Fine, fine,"** The Jinouga lowered its head a little, **"Better? And also, I still don't get why you called me here to hear a report about the Bulldrome and Awakened Aoashira being slaughtered."**

**"I never summoned you here with the intention for you to hear the report. Besides, they are only lowly monsters, comparable to minions. They were simply put into their place by the Fatalis. Minions like them will just get in the way of us bosses anyway. Never liked them. The only good minions are the Vespoids, simply because of how widespread their network is."**

**"So you called me here to tell me how much you hate minions. Great. I'm out. Bye,"** The Jinouga turned, and was halted by a geyser exploding a few meters ahead of it. It rolled it eyes and turned back to Alatreon. **"What now?"**

**"Just because you are a flagship monster does not mean you have the right to simply ignore me like that. Perhaps I should teach you a lesson...no, that will have to wait until after this assignment. I need you to sniff out the location of the Rajang for me. You have a sensitive nose and an affinity for electricity, so I'm sure you would have no problem locating the Rajang."**

**"Couldn't you just get the Khez-"**

**"The Khezu is too slow and lumbering a beast to handle the Rajang,"** Alatreon interrupted, **"You, on the other hand, are much quicker on your feet than the Khezu, and with the ability to absorb electricity, you have a distinct advantage against the Rajang."**

**"Humph. Good point. And when I ****_do _****find it?****"**

**"Persuade him to join us. Use force if necessary. You have your task. Be on your way."**

**"Okay then. I expect a worthy reward for doing this,"** The Jinouga turned and started to walk out of the area, slightly trembling with excitement. He had heard of the Awakened Rajang's prowess from the Vespoids, and while impressed, found them to be quite exaggerated. Which is why the very thought of finding the Rajang and possibly engaging it in combat was setting his soul ablaze. He would also be able to boast about his victory to the other three flagship monsters. **"Rajang or Jinouga...I wonder which one of us is stronger?"**


	19. It's Been A Long Day

**Author's Notes : Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you are all spending it better than me. (in front of a laptop banging away on the keyboard.) I think I'll update once every week from now, or earlier whenever I update the original story. That way I'll have more space to do my planning and stuffs.  
><strong>

* * *

><p>No one said anything as they sat down around the table, each silently tucking into their food. Elizabeth had returned home with her new weapon and Mark about an hour ago, after helping with the cleaning up of the place.<p>

Hishoji still looked as haggard as he did after emerging from his room earlier, and he ate slowly as though every action took a significant amount of effort on his part. Perhaps his depression completely blocked out the sight that the door was broken down earlier when he came out, and was now miraculously fixed thanks to Mark.

Well, as fixed as a door that got tore off its hinges by a giant boar monster could be. The two gaping holes caused by the Bulldrome's tusks were fixed with a plank that Mark had colored to the same tint as the original paint used on the door, and nailed onto the back. It was still slightly bent if you looked at it from the side, and made a creaking noise every now and then, as if it was going to fall over any moment.

"Damn technology. You guys have everything here, being able to fix a broken door this fast," Volt spoke between mouthfuls of food. "So Hishoji, what happened to you? You seem awfully...unhappy."

"Mark destroyed all my data in my computer. Everything, fried," Hishoji replied curtly, and prodded one of his foods while looking at Ayumi. "I can't believe it. I was _this_ close to being able to get that final hidden EX boss weapon which took me the whole of last week to grind for."

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad," Ayumi replied, "It's just a couple of hours."

"No, you don't get it. When I said the whole of last week, I meant the _whole_ of last week. Over a hundred hours all down the drain."

"You boys and your games," Ayumi sighed. "No wonder you look like you haven't slept for a while."

"Look on the bright side," Volt laughed as he swallowed another piece of the food, "You don't have to worry about your games now."

* * *

><p>"Hell, I'm glad I didn't eat so much," Hishoji muttered as he went out of his room's toilet. "Would be in the toilet the entire night if I had ate the whole bowl."<p>

Hishoji had only just realized that he had no idea what he had consumed for dinner earlier, but whatever it was it caused some severe stomach pains. He had been in the toilet for well over an hour, and it even now his stomach still ached. The fact that he hasn't really been paying attention to his body's needs did not help much either.

_"__Gahaha, serves you right, you dumb shit. Who the heck focuses on their game so much that they __neglect the basic need of going to the toilet for over a week?__"_

Of course, listening to Shinki's taunts while he was doing his business simply made it worse.

"Shut up. You aren't a gamer, so you won't understand. Hell, you aren't even from this world in the first place."

_"__Seriously Hishoji, it's just a couple of games. Why do you have to get so depressed?__"_ Kuroi asked.

"It's not just 'a couple'. It was over a few hundreds," Hishoji sighed, "Guess I'll have to start from scratch. I think I have my games all cataloged in a notepad somewhere."

_"__I'm sure you can do it, after all, you've already done it once before. Shouldn't be too hard to do it again,__"_ Kuroi patted Hishoji on the back, then uttered a cry of surprise as he noticed that he actually had a physical form.

Hishoji blinked as the mirror image of himself in the black suit looked at his hands. "This fast?"

"This fast? What are you talking about?" Hishoji stood up and moved closer. One could easily mistake them for twins if not for the suit Kuroi wore.

"Remember me telling you about how I feed off despair?" Kuroi walked casually around Hishoji's room, admiring the number of PC games he had bought with his hard earned allowance. Games that, unfortunately, Hishoji will not be allowed to play again until he gets a new computer. "If the vessel we're in now feels enough of said emotion we feed off, we can manifest ourselves outside his or her mind like this."

"So my depression over me losing all my games is enough emotion to make your appear like this?"

"Surprisingly, yes." Kuroi cocked his head to one side.

"So uh, what can you guys do while outside my mind?"

"For now, nothing, since currently only you can see us. Things might change over time though. Although with Shinki, he might take torturing you to another level."

_"__Damn right I would!__" _Shinki cried out from the confines of Hishoji's mind.

Hishoji shivered as he lied down on the cold hard floor. He had lost two of his gaming devices in one day, and now Kuroi was telling him that his depression was through the roof. And if that wasn't enough, he didn't even have a warm bed to sleep in. It was quite possibly the worst day ever for him in his entire lifetime.

* * *

><p>Ayumi sat down on her bed as she took out one of her books to read. She didn't get further than two pages in before she tossed it aside. Her mind was still preoccupied by the events of the day. From Wendy to the minion attacks, she found herself wondering if everyday after this was going to be as random as that.<p>

Not that she minded of course. Before yesterday she had been nothing but another typical teenager trying to live up to her parents' expectations. Even though it was wrong, she couldn't help but take guilty pleasure in the fact that things are going to be a tad _different _from now on.

_Wait, what am I thinking? I should be worried about mom and dad's conditions, not be happy about the situation. _She shook her head and lied down on her pillow.

_"__...Ayumi?__" _The voice rang out of her mind, making her open her eyes again.

"Yes, Shira?"

_"__We need to talk.__"_

* * *

><p>Volt pressed the buttons on the remote control, switching the channel on the television every now and then. Ayumi had told the hunter to watch the door in case a break in happened, but Volt was finding it quite difficult to keep his mind occupied enough to stop his eyes from closing.<p>

"Come on, there has to be _something _interesting on." He yawned and stretched himself out on the sofa, randomly switching the channels again.

Then he stopped and looked at the screen on the television. It had a huge 'LIVE' word on the top left corner of the screen, and 'BREAKING NEWS' in the middle.

"Breaking news, huh?" He sat up. "This should be interesting."

"Good evening. Today we take a deeper look at the reports of weird happenings that are emerging city-wide. First off, there has been sightings of odd meteors flying over the skies and landing in places unexpected throughout the city, and then magically disappearing like they never existed."

"Uh?" Volt grabbed a nearby pen and paper and prepared to jolt down any important information. "This sounds familiar."

"Further studies appear to be needed to fully understand this unnatural phenomenon. In related news, we arrive at the house of someone who is suspected to be related to the monster sightings. We have a lead from someone who says that the house has been host to a large number of odd looking creatures, and..."

The voice droned on, but Volt's attention was not on what the reporter was saying anymore. Rather, it was more on the house the camera was focusing on.

"Hey, isn't that-"

The knocking on the door confirmed his suspicions.

* * *

><p><em>"<em>_Is Wendy still asleep?__"_

"I think so. Probably, yeah. You don't want her to hear this?"

_"__Yes, I don't. It's about that bow that friend of Hishoji is going to be using.__"_

"Oh, you were saying something about it earlier," Ayumi lowered her voice at this point, not wanting to risk Wendy hearing her. "What was that about it being the weapon a hunter used to slay you?"

_"__I'm not very sure about the whole thing myself,__"_ Shira sighed. _"__But there is no mistaking that bow. You don't easily forget the weapon used to kill you when you were alive. But that's where the memory ends unfortunately.__"_

"Wait, what?"

_"__I know the bow was used to end my life. But I don't remember who was the one wielding it,__"_ Shira stopped for a moment, as if choosing her words carefully. _"__Wendy does, however. She said that herself earlier.__"_

"You want me to ask her for you?" Ayumi offered.

_"__That would be nice, but I must decline. Something tells me that this is a matter best left forgotten, and besides, I don't want to give you more problems than you have to deal with already. We'll discuss this matter again some other day.__"_

"Okay then," Ayumi hugged her bolster as she thought over Shira's words. It must be really weird to see the weapon used to murder you now being used to aid you. "You guys really are complicated."

__"____More so than you could possibly imagine,____"__ Ayumi could almost hear Shira smiling. __"____Good night.____"__

* * *

><p>"Good evening sir, I'm from the local news," The reporter extended a hand as the front door opened, and then jerked it back as he took in Volt's appearance. He wasn't sure what to make of the person in armor in front of him, and seemed to be at a loss for words for an instant. He quickly composed himself though, and smiled nervously.<p>

"H-how may I address you?"

"Volt."

"Alright Volt, we've received reports from some person down the street. He mentioned that there were huge...boar lookalikes inside your house_. _Is this true?" He sounded skeptical.

"Eh, just a couple of Bullfangoes. Nothing to it. Now go away, I'm busy." Volt decided that the best thing to do was to simply chase them off. His eye was on the cameraman, whose camera was focused directly on him. If he says anything out of place, it might end up badly for Hishoji and Ayumi.

"_Bullfangoes?_" The reporter echoed after him.

"That's what I said." It didn't look like the reporter was going to be backing off any time soon. An idea started to sprout in the hunter's head.

"Okay...mind if we take a look around?"

"Your funeral," Volt shrugged and stepped inside the house to get his Switch Axe.

"Uh, ha ha, was that your idea of a joke?" The reporter laughed tensely and moved inside, where Volt had returned to his spot on the sofa and was sharpening his Switch Axe once again.

As the reporter and cameraman moved around slowly, they could feel the hunter's intense stare following them everywhere. Soon the two found themselves beginning to have unpleasant thoughts of what the man in blue armor with the sharp weapon sharpening an axe-like weapon was going to do to them.

Volt slowly slid the whetstone against his Switch Axe as the visor on his helmet went up and his glare pierced the already nervous two. As the two approached the stairs however, he decided it was time to get them out.

"So," He stepped towards the reporter, using his height to his advantage, "See any monsters?"

"A-actually, we've o-only walked a few steps around the house," The reporter stammered, then quickly added, "I think it's clear enough there's nothing of interest here, thank you for your time, seeyousoon."

The reporter was tripping over his own words as fear gripped his heart, and soon enough he and the camera man were well on their way away from the house.

_Maybe I overdid it with the intimidation._ Volt frowned as he closed the door after them. _But I guess any potential thief would have been scared off from watching the television._

"Well, not much point worrying," He turned off the lights and threw himself onto the sofa. "They won't be coming back anyway. And if anyone really _does_ attempt to break in, they will know what it feels like to be on the business edge of my weapon."


	20. Hunters Take Their House For Granted

**Author's notes : Happy New Year! Also, apologies for the large amount of dialogue this chapter, and the short length. This is all buildup for the fight anyway. And yes, I know there are a lot of line breaks. Sorry about that too.  
><strong>

* * *

><p>Hishoji grunted as he took his seat on the table and ate his breakfast grumpily. The events yesterday had evidently placed him in a bad mood.<p>

"Oh woe be me! What would my life's purpose be without my games?" He quipped in self-pity, and froze as he noticed Volt and Ayumi eyeing him. "...What?"

"You know, I don't get what you're so depressed about," Volt chewed the bread and swallowed with a gulp, "I mean, all you have to do is just buy another one of those contraptions or something, right?"

"Wow Volt, great idea!" Hishoji exclaimed sarcastically. "Now pray tell, where would I get enough money to buy one?"

"Actually, Volt's right," Ayumi cut in, beginning to get annoyed with Hishoji's attitude, "You really should just go buy one if you're so desperate."

Hishoji turned to Ayumi. "You too? And how do YOU propose I get the money from then?"

"Simple. Work."

"Work." Such a word didn't really exist in Hishoji's vocabulary. Partly because he was often too 'busy' playing games to bother, and his monetary needs were satisfied by his parents anyway. At least, until now. "You _cannot _be serious."

* * *

><p>"...You're serious?"<p>

"For the fifth time, Hishoji, yes, I am," Ayumi said as she picked up her cellphone from the table. "Let's go, Wendy."

"Wait, Wendy's INSIDE your cellphone? What are you thinking, bringing her along to school? I thought she was supposed to guard the house or something."

"Well she was the one who insisted on it. Besides, we could use a little extra help right? Volt could be the one to watch the house while we're gone."

A drenched Volt made his way across to them from the toilet, creating small puddles of water on the floor along the way.

"What the heck happened to you?" Hishoji asked, looking curiously at the hunter whose Jinouga armor was still dripping water.

"Taking a bath. Oddly enough, I didn't feel my health or stamina improving," Volt replied, then shivered a little. "And is it just me, or is the water incredibly _cold_?"

Hishoji turned to Ayumi, unsure if he should laugh or cry.

"You were saying something about having _him _watch the house?"

* * *

><p>"So what was that about work earlier?" Hishoji, as usual, found himself having trouble keeping up with his sister's pace. Ayumi's walking speed was more or less comparable to her brother's running speed, and anyone watching the two heading to school would definitely feel sorry for Hishoji.<p>

It was not exactly a bad thing though, since it kind of forced Hishoji to run daily whenever the two went to school together.

"I arranged for us to work part time at Dean's place. He already cleaned out most of the battle marks we left, and the wages we'll get from this job would be able to sustain us, since mom and dad are both...you know."

"I still don't get why we should work, I mean, this hunting business is already taking up most of our time."

"Look at it this way, you'll get to buy a new desktop."

"I'm in."

**"You sure made him change his mind quick."**Wendy commented, obviously impressed.

"Yeah, knowing someone for so long sort of makes you know what buttons to push to get them to do what you want."

* * *

><p>"Looks like it's just me and you again," Volt muttered to himself as he switched on the television. Watching television had been entertaining to him for the first few hours yesterday, but the excitement had died out quickly. Hunters were trained since young to hunt, and watching TV certainly wasn't hunting.<p>

Volt soon found himself shifting uncomfortable on the sofa. His thoughts drifted back to before he had entered this strange world, when protecting Yukumo Village and its citizens was the only task he had set himself on doing.

_I wonder if Yukumo Village is doing fine without me. Hopefully the area isn't overrun by monsters yet. Maybe they got another hunter to take my place..._

Volt snapped himself out of his reverie and stood up, placing his weapon back onto its usual place on his back. It simply was not in his nature to wait for an opponent to make a move. Especially when the opponent in question is an Elder Dragon. He switched the television off and opened the front door.

"Sorry guys, but I'm not about to just sit here and do nothing while monsters are running free outside this world," Volt muttered an apology to Hishoji and Ayumi as he stepped out and started walking down the same path he had taken with the other two the previous day. "And where monsters roam, hunters hunt."

* * *

><p>The Lao Shan Lung yawned loudly in his cave as he adjusted his feet about in an attempt to get into a more comfortable position. The cave's size was huge, enough to pack well over a hundred humans, but the Rocky Mountain Dragon's largeness was more than enough to fill up almost the entire area.<p>

He had confined himself here for quite a while, deciding to play it safe and not risk the wrath of Alatreon again, especially after his most recent failure. Occasionally some Awakened monsters pass by to visit, although most do so by accident. The entire cave _was_ a virtual area inside some power lines after all, and most of the Awakened traversed by said power lines to move quickly and unnoticed throughout the city. The latest visitor however, was one even the Lao Shan did not expect to see.

**"So have you heard? About the Bird Wyverns, I mean."** The Yama Tsukami drifted over slowly to the Lao Shan, taking care not to let his tentacles touch any of the spikes on the Lao Shan's back. To hunters, the spikes were enough to impale them and end their life instantly, but to monsters the size of the Yama, it was like getting pricked by a sharp needle. A small wound, but still annoying to tend to nonetheless.

The Lao Shan shifted a little to make some space for the Yama. Despite the enormous size difference, it was obvious they treated each other on even terms, for each only knew the power of the other far too well. Elder Dragons, after all, have complicated relationships.

**"Y-yeah. They caused quite a commotion. The Vespoids were all over this,"** The squeaky voice that came out of the gigantic Lao Shan's mouth was quite unexpected. **"They were fortunate their actions didn't cause any trouble to Alatreon. Otherwise the rest of us would have to suffer from that bastard's attitude."**

**"Hmm, you don't sound too happy about your new leader."** The Yama noted the sound of despise in the Lao Shan's voice when he mentioned Alatreon.

**"Damn right I'm not! Treats us all like dirt, he does. Hell, I'm not even able to reveal myself at all due to my size. Our only hope of salvation is that once the Trio are dead, we'd be able to roam freely through this new world."**

**"I see,"** The Yama bobbed its head slightly, as if in thought. **"Speaking of trouble, just earlier this morning a certain lightning wolf passed by and asked me for a favor."**

**"What kind of favor?"**

**"Something about my Great Thunderbugs,"** The Yama spoke like a child sharing his secret with glee, **"And I got a gut feeling whatever that wolf's doing, it's going to piss Alatreon off. Bad."**

* * *

><p>Deeper underneath the city, where an unpleasant smell of waste permeated the air and the water is the color of a murky brown, a certain black Pegalus moved slowly amongst a huge nest of brown Neopterons. The insects let out chirps as they cleaned the area out to the best of their abilities. The sewers was possibly the only last remaining place not affected by Alatreon's influence, after all.<p>

**"Those Dromes...I told them not to do anything hasty. Now they're all either dead or dying,"** The Awakened Rajang sighed. Maybe it wasn't really such a bright idea to not join either fraction and remain neutral. Still, its honor prevented it from going back to the Trio and telling them that it wanted to rejoin them again. At least, not until it was necessary. **"I suppose I'll just have to go search for them myself. Playing solo here won't do anyone any good. Hornetaurs, where were they last seen?"**

The swarm of Hornetaurs on the floor shifted slightly, then one flew off into the sky, clicking nosily with its wings as if implying for the Rajang to follow. This was more or less the only way they could communicate after all, for Hornetaurs were amongst the few unfortunate species to not have an Awakened.

Their network was as widespread as the Vespoids', but Alatreon had regarded them as useless monsters simply due to the lack of an Awakened amongst their ranks. So when the Rajang had stumbled upon them in the sewers making their nests, and made it clear that his standpoint was neutral, they had welcomed him with open arms. Then again, with their numbers, one would wonder if an Awakened would really be needed.

* * *

><p><strong>"Humph. This isn't turning out very well. The scents are all dead,"<strong>The Jinouga strutted inside the alley, where it had detected the presence of several monsters. The monsters however, didn't seem to be very keen on meeting him, and had fled quickly through the power lines before the wolf could as much as catch a glimpse of what they were.

**"Such a shame. And I was ****_so_**** looking forward to using these little guys as well."** The Jinouga shook a little, and the Great Thunderbugs on its back charged up a little voltage in response. **"Guess I'll just have to tell Alatreon to deal with it."**

The Jinouga turned, and as luck would have it, sensed a small electric current flowing through the power lines in front of it, followed shortly by a larger current. There was no doubt that both of the currents belonged to monsters moving through the power lines. The larger current intrigued the Jinouga, for it was giving off a powerful aura, even in 'electricity mode'.

Coincidentally, they were both headed in the direction the monsters had fled in.

**"I believe I found my target."** A smile appeared on the Jinouga's face as it gracefully leaped into the air and changed into electricity, then started to give chase.


	21. When In Doubt, Look Out the Window

**Author's Notes : You guys can see where this is heading right?  
><strong>

* * *

><p>"Alright class, turn to page fifty seven. Today we'll be starting on a new topic, but first..."<p>

Hishoji looked out the window at the field below. It was such nice weather for sleeping, but here he was, like every other student, listening to the teacher drone on and on in a monotonous voice. The early morning wind blowing through the window was serving to increase his drowsiness. He stretched himself out a little.

"...Hishoji?" The teacher called, looking at him expectantly.

"Huh?" Hishoji stood up half asleep, and rubbed his eyes. "What's going on?"

"Repeat what I just said."

"Uh..."

_He told you to stop building castles in the air, and focus on the task at hand__._ Kuroi said helpfully. _It would help if you actually listen for once._

"Not bad," The teacher was visibly impressed as Hishoji gave the correct answer. "Looks like you're paying attention for once."

Hishoji slumped down on his chair again and yawned, casting a glance over to Elizabeth sitting just two seats away to his right. Normally she would be the one paying the most attention in class, but today she seemed to be more engrossed in her thoughts than the lesson itself.

It was not hard to guess what was on her mind though. Hishoji was thinking the same thing, after all. __Would any monsters attack today?__

* * *

><p>"Eh? Did I take a wrong turn?" Volt looked at his surroundings with a look of hopeless confusion. "I was pretty sure this was the route Hishoji and Ayumi took to this school place. Left turn, followed by right, followed by another right, then...crap, I don't remember."<p>

He passed shop after shop on the street, ignoring the looks people were giving him with his Switch Axe sheathed behind his back, finally stopping at a local bookstore which caught his eye.

Upon entering, he found his breath taken away by the sheer amount of books in the store. To the locals, it was merely an ordinary bookstore carrying an ordinary number of books. But to a hunter not of this world, the store seemed to contain at least over a hundred times the amount of books he had seen back in his world.

Volt picked up one of the books which had the word "Diary" etched onto its front cover and skimmed through the pages. They were all blank, of course, but the hunter had no idea what the purpose of the book was.

"Excuse me, but what is this?" Volt walked over to the receptionist and placed the diary down on the table.

"It's a diary," The male receptionist responded curtly, giving the hunter's armor an odd look. He was reading one of the books from the shelf behind him, and being interrupted had placed him in a foul mood, even if it was his job.

"What do you do with it?" Volt had heard of his Felyne companions writing diaries, but he never actually bothered to fill up one of his own. Most of the data of his hunts were recorded by his Felynes instead of him.

The receptionist sighed. "You know, write stuff? About what happened today and all. Maybe the past. Something. Anything. Look, are you buying this or not? I'm kind of busy here."

"So how much does it cost?"

"Five bucks."

"Five? I don't have any spare on me, I'll give you a hundred. Keep the change." Volt tossed a bag onto the table and walked out of the store, leaving the receptionist slightly stunned. You don't get weird people who give you a hundred and tell you to keep the change everyday.

"Just to be sure," The receptionist opened the bag. He had definitely heard the clinking of coins when the hunter threw the bag onto the table, but the contents the bag was not what he had expected. Inside was a hundred coins, each with a weird 'Z' engraved on them. "What the hell is this?"

The receptionist jumped over the counter and ran outside to try and catch the hunter before he could move too far away. But it was difficult to catch someone who was constantly taking random turns through the streets, and he could not leave the stall unattended. Before he knew it the hunter had disappeared, and he was forced to return to the store empty-handed. "Dammit. I've been scammed."

* * *

><p><strong>"So, who chose this place to hide in?"<strong>The Iodrome spit out some blood on the floor. The other three dromes gave it a look of pity. It had taken the worst of the Great Furogi's poison, after all.

The four of them were moving slowly throughout the city, not yet wanting to return to the sewers where their base was. In their current injured state it was getting difficult to move around, but the sewers was hardly an ideal place for recuperation.

Their current location however, was far from ideal as well. They were in a room which they had used as shelter for the past hour. Earlier on, they had sensed an unfriendly presence approaching them, and were forced to move out of the alley they were hiding in. At least their new shelter seemed to be safe for now. That said, the place absolutely reeked.

**"Definitely wasn't me. And it looks like this place is called a toilet,"** The Velocidrome hopped away from the 'toilet' sign and pushed one of the buttons on the sink. It stared curiously as water began to appear out of the tap. **"I wonder what it's for."**

**"Can't you smell the stench in the air, stupid?"** The Gendrome nudged open one of the cubicle doors and entered, emerging out a second later greener in the face and body than usual. **"I have a feeling they make Congalala hybrids here."**

**"I couldn't care less,"** The Iodrome coughed violently, spitting out even more blood. **"If we stay here any longer I believe our lifespans would be cut by half, or worse. Someone find another hiding place pronto."**

**"Hey you guys, do you feel that?"** The Giadrome had approached the entrance of the toilet, and was looking at the wide field in front of its eyes. **"Doesn't the static in the air remind you of something?"**

A single Hornetaur flew out of the electric fan above them, followed a split second later by a black mass which just managed to throw itself outside the toilet as its body was solidifying.

**"There you all are," **The four Dromes yelped as the Rajang materialized in front of them. They had not expected the Pegalus to be worried enough to personally go out and retrieve them. ****"You dromes sure pick weird hiding places."****

* * *

><p>Hishoji's eyes widened as he saw the Rajang appear from his viewpoint at the window. Of course, what he could see, so could the other two occupying his body. His left hand shot up into the air by itself.<p>

_Excuse yourself now Hishoji._ _Now._ Shinki's voice was full of wrath.

"Yes, Hishoji?" The teacher gave a questioning look at him.

_Dammit Shinki, stop screwing with my hand!_

"Uh, I have to uh, go to the toilet. I have uh, a stomachache," Hishoji was already halfway across the room even as he said this, for Shinki was taking control extremely quickly this time. "I'll be back -hic!- soon."

Elizabeth noticed the tone change in the last word Hishoji said, and raised her hand as well. "I have a stomachache too. Excuse me."

"You too, Elizabeth? Really, kids these days..." The teacher gave her a wave of dismissal, "Just be back soon."

* * *

><p><em>The past, the past...<em> Volt stared at the empty diary in his hands as he sat on the bench. He had walked quite a long way from the bookstore, and while he had not realized it, the school that Ayumi and Hishoji attended was now behind him. While moving he had pondered on the words the receptionist had spoke to him. Specifically, he was wondering about his past.

Try as he might he could not find a single thing to write down in the diary. It was not that he didn't want to write anything, but more like he _couldn't_, because he had no memory of anything that happened before he was sent to this world.

Strangely enough, he could recall the important parts, about him being a hunter from Yukumo Village, all the monsters he had hunted, how to use his weapons. But he had no intention to fill the book up with such details that even his Felyne Comrades could do for him. Rather, he wanted to write something about his personal life. The more he thought about it, the more he sensed that there was something he was missing.

_"Volt!"_

Volt almost died of fright from the unexpected cry. The voice was female, and sounded familiar, but it wasn't Ayumi nor Elizabeth. He looked around, and seeing no one nearby who could have called out to him, inferred that the voice was merely in his head.

_One of my memories, maybe?_

He squirmed uneasily, then turned to look at the wide field behind him. Somehow, the field was sealed up by fences preventing people from entering. A huge building was looming over it, and there was also what seemed to be a small shelter in the far corner. Looking closely, Volt could just about make out an odd black shape in front of the shelter. It did not take long for the memory to click into place. The shape belonged to the same beast he had saw outside the hospital.

He jumped out of his seat, all thoughts about the voice temporary forgotten. As he did however, something _else_ in the distance caught his eye. It was the one approaching that shape from the other end of the field. A monster he had seen countless times in his hunting career.

Jinouga, the Lightning Wolf.


	22. Looks Like Rain

**Author's Notes : Yes they still aren't fighting yet. The fight's in the next chapter. Bear with me a little; apparently back when I wrote this chapter I had just gotten back from studying for my exams.**

* * *

><p>One floor directly below Hishoji's classroom, Ayumi was finding it hard to concentrate on what the teacher was saying. Partly because of what Shira had said the night before, but she was also feeling an odd uneasiness in the air. Her skin was tingling, and no matter what she did, the feeling simply would not go away.<p>

The sound of feet hitting against cement caught her attention, and she looked outside at the corridor. Something moved past at an inhumane speed, and then backtracked to the classroom door. Everyone in Ayumi's class stared at Hishoji with his crimson eyes.

"Little shit told me to get you, so here I am," Shinki clicked his tongue, then started off again. "See you at the field."

_The field?_

"What was that about? Ayumi, wasn't that your brother? What happened to his eyes?" The teacher inquired.

"Uh, medical condition. He's probably heading to the sick bay or something," Ayumi laughed nervously as she inched towards the window and looked in the direction of the field. Almost instantly the tingling sensation on her skin intensified as she caught sight of the Rajang and Jinouga.

"But didn't he say something about the field?"

"Uh, yeah, he sort of goes bonkers in the head when the disease hits him. I better go see that he's safe." She hurried outside after the teacher nodded, and whipped out her cellphone.

"Well then Wendy, time for a change in the weather."

* * *

><p><strong>"You've been making life real troublesome for me, you know? All of you should head back to base first, we'll tend to your wounds there,"<strong> For some reason, the four dromes found themselves getting lectured by the Rajang. **"We shouldn't run around above ground so much; you never know when Alatreon might decide to send some of his minions after you to coerce you into joining him."**

**"That's nice and all sir, but I think what you just said is about to come true. There's something creeping up behind you."** The Giadrome's voice was soft, perhaps from the fear of the Jinouga.

**"Oh, that guy? Ignore him, he's not much of a threat,"** The Rajang stole a quick look at the Jinouga before turning back to the dromes, **"Now then, all of you, return back to base."**

A look of anger flashed across the Jinouga's face as the Rajang casually dismissed him as 'not much of a threat'. As he hastened his approach, the four dromes simultaneously transformed into electricity, leaving the Rajang alone with the lightning wolf on the field.

**"Now then, you have some business with me?"** The Rajang slowly faced the Jinouga.

**"That I have. The ****_almighty_****"** -he spit on the floor after saying the word- **"Alatreon wants to know when you would finally join sides with him."**

**"That? Well...when I feel like it. Anything else?"**

**"I thought you would say something like that. You see, I'm permitted to use force should words fail to convince you,"** The Jinouga snarled, **"And since it doesn't look like words are going to be much of a use here..."**

The Jinouga strutted up to the Rajang, putting the two at face level.

**"Names first, eh? Zen Sparkwolf. Better burn it into your memory, because it'll be the-"**

The Rajang snickered and quickly grabbed one of Sparkwolf's horns, which was an easy feat considering how close the two were, and cleanly snapped it off the beast's head.

**"Sonofabitch!"** Sparkwolf howled in pain, and leaped backwards instinctively. **"The fuck you did that for?"**

**"I needed a toothpick,"** The Rajang suppressed a laugh, **"Maybe that will teach you not to get so close in proximity when issuing threats against your opponent."**

**"Fine, screw getting you on the team. I'll kill you right here and now,"** Sparkwolf roared in anger as he instantly charged himself up, his back glowing with the power of the Great Thunderbugs. **"No one messes with my horns and gets away with it."**

The Rajang responded with a roar of his own as his back turned a shining golden. **"I think you just signed your own death warrant."**

* * *

><p>The sound of the two roars reverberated throughout the entire school, catching the attention of both students and staff. The students that were close to the windows managed to catch a glimpse of two large figures in the field, one golden in color, and the other electric blue. Before they could properly see what the figures were however, the weather took a sudden change. The sun's rays were blocked out by rainclouds that formed within seconds, and no sooner had they formed did rain start to pour all over the area.<p>

The rain was heavy enough to block out all sight of everyone attempting to view the two beasts from a distance, and those caught in the rain began to feel extremely uncomfortable. The speed at which the rain was falling was tantamount to a waterfall, and if anyone stayed under it for too long the uncomfortable feeling would transform into pain.

Fortunately for Volt, his armor pretty much negated the effects of the rain, and he steadily made his way towards one of the side entrances to the field. The rain slowed his progress, but not by much.

"This rain...must be that Daora. I guess Hishoji and the others noticed the monsters then. I guess the others will handle the black ape while I get the Jinouga," He smiled under his armor, "It's been too long since I last hunted a Jinouga. This should be fun."

* * *

><p>On the first floor of the school, Elizabeth had met up with Ayumi as the two of them chased after Shinki, and the three had stopped before the entrance of the field. The torrent of rain before them looked something akin to a wall of water, and even though Ayumi explained that Wendy had made it such that they won't be affected, even she did not sound too sure about it.<p>

Shinki didn't look like he cared, of course. He was just fidgeting, impatient to beat the living daylights out of the Rajang.

"Hey Wendy, I know I asked for a weather to keep everyone except us out but...how heavy did you make this rain?" Ayumi looked worried as some students ran into the school with their skins slightly red.

**"They only got into that condition because they stayed in the rain too long. I made the rain quite light on the building, so the school shouldn't collapse under the pressure, if that's what you're worried about."**

"Oi, if you shits are going to discuss about the rain here all day, be my guest. But don't stop me for a stupid reason like that," Shinki moved towards the entrance, but Elizabeth stepped out in front of him.

"Hold on for a second, won't you? We'll be all suspicious if we just went out into the rain like this, look at the number of people around here!" She gestured towards the canteen behind them, where students were drying themselves up.

"Like anyone will notice," Shinki pouted, then smiled as an idea took root in his head. "Say, we just need a reason to go out there, correct?"

The two girls nodded.

"And Hishoji's a game freak, right?"

"What are you getting at here?" Ayumi folded her arms.

With a quick movement, Shinki snatched Mark off Elizabeth's back.

_"Eh? What are you doing?"_ Mark exclaimed in surprise, then let out a groan as he seemed to realize what Shinki was thinking. _"Oh noooooooo. You're NOT going to-"_

"I hope you're waterproof," Shinki sneered as he swung his arm hard and tossed Mark far into the field. "There's our reason."


	23. Unlimited Lightning Works!

**Author's Notes : Let me be clear on this. I had absolutely no knowledge of Jinouga's subspecies at the time when I wrote this chapter, because Monster Hunter Tri G wasn't even announced at that time.**

* * *

><p>The torrent of rain splashed all around the two monsters as Sparkwolf circled around the Rajang. Despite how heavy it was, the two didn't seem the least affected by it.<p>

**"Ooh, rain,"** The Rajang flexed one of its fists, **"Funny, there weren't any signs of rain earlier."**

**"You scared of a little water?"** Sparkwolf laughed bitterly.

**"No, but I can't say the same for you,"** The Rajang pounded the fist it was flexing against the floor, **"Now then, come at me bro."**

Sparkwolf spun two full circles, amusing the Rajang for a moment, but the amusement soon disappeared as he came to the realization too late that the Jinouga was spinning to build up momentum.

**"Who the fuck is your bro?" **Sparkwolf growled a split second before he leaped forward, using the momentum he had generated to push himself off the ground. As he spun in midair, the Jinouga connected his tail with the Rajang's face faster than the latter could react.

There was a satisfying crack as the attack caused one of the Rajang's horns shattered into pieces. The Rajang felt around his head with his forelimb, and feeling the stub where one of his horns used to be, something inside him seemed to snap with anger.

**"Now we're even, hm?"** Sparkwolf smiled, then let out a yelp as he narrowly dodged one of the Rajang's punches by jumping sideways. **"Looks like someone's angry, huh?"**

**"****_Very._****"** The Rajang turned around and attempted to tackle Sparkwolf, charging at the Fanged Wyvern and bringing his shoulder down hard onto the Jinouga. Both beasts slammed into each other, neither willing to let the other win in a contest of brute strength. But the Jinouga did not have as much muscle mass as the Pegalus, and was slowly getting pushed back. With a growl, Sparkwolf gave way to the Rajang, but quickly spun around with his back facing the Pegalus once again.

With surprising agility, the Jinouga flipped backwards and smashed its tail down onto the area behind it, missing the Rajang by a hair's breadth as the latter zoomed past. Sparkwolf wasn't about to give up; he was already spinning around in circles to build up momentum once more.

The Rajang had no intention of letting the Jinouga do that. It made a sharp turn towards Sparkwolf and opened its mouth, releasing a beam of electricity. To the Rajang's surprise however, Sparkwolf made no attempts of avoiding the attack whatsoever.

As the beam hit Sparkwolf, his back began to glow brighter as more spikes shot up, making him look more intimidating. The Rajang stopped his attack and looked at Sparkwolf, his head cocked to one side in confusion.

**"Oh I'm sorry, was that an attack?"** Sparkwolf smiled arrogantly as he taunted the Rajang, **"Or were you attempting to give me a power up?"**

The Rajang's mouth curled upwards into a snarl as he realized that he had effectively given the Jinouga an advantage in the battle. He hopped quickly from left to right, then to his left again. As he got near to the Wyvern he wound back one of his arms and swung it forward, aiming the Jinouga's face.

Sparkwolf was ready for him this time though, and turned to the side before throwing his entire body against the Rajang's fist. The Pegalus saw the attack coming, but was in an awkward position to change his attack. He had to improvise by placing the arm he was going to use to punch in front of him, creating a makeshift defensive stance. But Sparkwolf's power had skyrocketed with his latest charge of electricity, and as he slammed into the Rajang, the Pegalus was sent flying ten meters away from him.

The Rajang recovered quickly, and was on his feet less than a second after being thrown. He looked at the Jinouga in front of him, then at the weather around them.** "This is a waste of time. I didn't think I would have to use this again but..."**

The aura around the Rajang shone a brighter golden, the yellow electricity emitting from him visible even in the rain. And then just as suddenly as it had appeared, the aura dispersed, leaving Sparkwolf puzzled.

**"Don't tell me you gave up already... and to think I was looking forward to your second rage mode so much,"** Sparkwolf cocked his head to the side as the Rajang remained silent, **"Tch, fine, if you won't attack, I ****_WILL_****!"**

As he lunged at the Rajang, something flew through the rain and bounced against his shoulder.

_"What the heck did I hit?"_ Mark looked up at the two monsters in front of him, then let out a whimper. _"Crap."_

The sudden appearance of a PSP caused Sparkwolf's concentration to lapse momentarily, but that instance was enough for the Rajang to make his move.

He jumped forward to meet the Jinouga's charge, hand outstretched in a pose that resembled a horizontal karate chop. However, rather than swinging it full force as he went past Sparkwolf, the attack was executed in such a way that only the tip of his hand connected with the Jinouga's shoulder.

The effect was immediate as Sparkwolf collapsed from the unexpected strength of the attack, rolling onto the floor as he lost all strength in his right shoulder.

**"What the heck?"** Sparkwolf muttered as he found himself unable to even pick himself up. He realized why as he tilted his head to the right to look at the injury. There was a large wound on his shoulder which looked like someone had used a slender knife to cut through him and remove a portion of his flesh. The blood flowing profusely out of the wound indicated that while the wound appeared to be small to the naked eye, it actually cut deeper than it showed.

**"Rajang nails. Potentially the strongest amongst the most powerful weapons a monster could have in its arsenal,"** The Rajang's voice through the rain seemed to mock him, **"That's why you don't see Rajangs having them very often. The danger of hurting themselves is very real should they let their nails grow. I, of course, have a full set."**

* * *

><p>"Holy crap, did that Rajang just one hit KO the Jinouga?" Hishoji stared in awe at the television, which was showing what Shinki was seeing through his eyes.<p>

"That Jinouga...there's something familiar about it, but I can't seem to put my finger on what." Kuroi slowly chewed on a cookie as he said this.

"Who cares? Anything that can one shot another monster is something to be careful about. Oi, Shinki, don't die fighting that Rajang you hear me?"

"Do I look like a loser like you?" Shinki's voice echoed all around.

"Asshole. I was just trying to be nice." Hishoji mumbled.

"You know, Hishoji, since there's nothing much for you to do here, I might as well teach you how to fight properly."

"What?" Hishoji stared at Kuroi. "I already do know how to fight properly."

"With a fist. A very crude way of fighting. Now then," A sword materialized in both Hishoji and Kuroi's hand, "Since that hunter didn't seem to be teaching you anything at all, you might as well get some pointers from me. First off, let's work on that stance of yours."

Hishoji groaned. "Just when I thought I could relax in here..."

* * *

><p>"Huh, that blue wolf thingy is down already," Elizabeth moved forward and picked up Mark, then turned to Shinki. "Do we stick with the original plan of you handling the Rajang alone?"<p>

"For sure. I don't want any interruptions," Shinki cracked his knuckles and stepped towards the Rajang who was still looking at the fallen Jinouga. "Nice weather we're having, isn't it?"

**"Hm?"** The Rajang turned to Shinki, then shook its head. **"You again..."**

"Yes, me again. We have a score to settle, remember?"

**"Not today,"** The Rajang sighed. **"Now then, I have to go."**

"You ain't going anywhere till we finish this battle, you ass-"

**"Attention, everyone. Kindly shut yourselves up, I'm trying to get back into battle here,"** The Jinouga slowly brought itself to its feet, despite the amount of blood flowing out from the wound on his right shoulder. **"There we go. New players hm? Names first. Zen Sparkwolf."**

**"What?"** The Rajang looked genuinely taken aback from what Sparkwolf had just did. **"Impossible...that attack should have rendered you helpless."**

"Names? Shinki. Now hurry up and die so I can continue my battle with the Rajang."

A worried look appeared on Ayumi's face as Shira warned her about the situation inside her mind.

_Something's up with that Jinouga, watch yourself._

"Guys, be careful, Shira says something's wrong with the Jinouga," Ayumi repeated Shira's warning to the the others. "Keep a distance from him."

Even though Shinki didn't seem to take Ayumi seriously, he grunted to acknowledge the warning. Elizabeth moved back a couple of paces to put herself in a safer range, and even the Rajang himself seemed unsure of what was going on.

**"Oi, oi, why are you all moving back? The fight's not even started yet,"** Sparkwolf swayed a little on his feet, the wound still taking a toll on him. **"Don't think you won the fight simply because I tripped over and fell."**

The bluish white aura around Sparkwolf began to get a tinge of red, which increased in intensity as he spoke.

**"I hope you had your fun, you overgrown bull, because now we're fighting on my terms,"** The wound on Sparkwolf's shoulders seemed to have stopped dripping blood; rather the blood was being redirected around his body. **"****_Blood red lightning_****...normally I won't be able to keep this up for long, but thanks to that dragon..."**

* * *

><p>"<span>That dragon?<span>" Kuroi dematerialized the swords that he and Hishoji held, then moved closer to the television and squinted his eyes, focusing on the Jinouga's back. "This...of course."

"You remembered why that Jinouga is so familiar now?" Hishoji asked.

"Indeed I do. I wonder what he is thinking though, helping that Jinouga out like this."

"Wait, who are you talking about?"

"Who else has Great Thunderbugs that grants immortality, and stores them within that huge fat green body of his?"

* * *

><p><strong>"Atchoo!"<strong>

**"You aren't catching a cold are you?"**The Lao Shan shifted uneasily. He wasn't used to having visitors, and even if someone did visit it was rarely someone of the Yama's size.

**"No, not a cold, you know full well I'm immune to all ailments thanks to my powers,"** The Yama Tsukami guffawed, **"Rather, I think someone's talking about me behind my back."**

A Great Thunderbug floated out of his mouth as he spoke, slowly drifted to the middle of the two giants, then started glowing.

**"Eh? What's this?"**The Lao Shan inquired, curiously looking at the tiny creature that was smaller than its eyeball.

**"Ho, this must mean that the wolf just did it."**

**"'Did 'it'? What do you mean? What did he do?"**

**"You'll hear from the Vespoids soon enough."**

* * *

><p>"Damn, I should have done this earlier," Volt muttered to himself as he reached the top of the fence, and jumped down into the field. It was hard to make out, but the glow from the Jinouga's back was just bright enough to penetrate the rain. As he hurried towards the beacon of light, Volt realized something was amiss. "Wait, how did the light became suddenly change from blue to red?"<p>

* * *

><p><strong>"Now then, before we start this,"<strong> Sparkwolf sniffed the air, **"Who better to use this power on first than someone who has slayed so many Jinougas that even this rain is unable to wash away the scent of their blood?"**

"What?" The two girls exclaimed.

"That hunter?" Shinki folded his arms.

**"Yes, ****_that hunter_****,"** With a howl, the Jinouga pushed himself into the air with a newfound strength. As he started to descend, Sparkwolf dived towards the unknowing Volt, positioning himself to hit with his back so as to discharge as much electricity as possible. **"Watch now, Rajang. **_**This **_**is power."**

* * *

><p>"Oh look, they're waving at me," Volt was close enough to make out the silhouettes of everyone now. One of the girls was pointing upwards hysterically, and as he followed her finger Volt saw something akin to a red ball of electricity flying towards him. "What the heck is- oh. Shit."<p>

A quarter of a second later, a gigantic blast of red light engulfed the field.


	24. He Just Won't Die : VS Jinouga!

**Author's Notes : Once again, the power of the Awakened Jinouga is NOT taken from MH3G. Like I said earlier, at the time when I wrote this chapter, the Jinouga subspecies was not even announced yet. This is also the only chapter in which I use potions; after all, you don't really walk out uninjured from getting hit by a monster five times your size. So this means that no one is going to die...yet.  
><strong>

**I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, because the next battle is going to be quite a while from now. To be specific, the next fight will be at chapter 30. Maybe I should speed up my updates more.**

* * *

><p>The soft sound of water trickling made Volt open one of his eyes. The cloudless blue sky that greeted him evoked a sense of nostalgia as he looked at his surroundings.<p>

"Isn't this..." There was no doubt of where he was; he had been in the hot spring of Yukumo Village more than enough times to memorize every little detail about the place.

_So this is it then, I failed as a hunter and was brought back here._ He sighed as he floated in the water. _It's not too bad I suppose. Those kids could take care of themselves, what with Kuroi, Shinki and Shira aiding them._

"Damn, I could stay here forever," Volt murmured. There were rumors going around in the village that the hot spring not only soothes one's body and nerves, but could even increase vitality and stamina. Whether or not that was true, Volt definitely felt better as he slowly drifted around.

_"Volt!" _The same female voice he had heard whilst he was sitting on the bench earlier sounded.

_That voice again? It sounded a lot closer this time though. Did it belong to a friend of mine?_ Volt's interest was piqued. Lying in the hot spring, he could almost say the name of the owner of the voice._ I'm pretty sure her name began with a 'Y'..._

Try as he might though, Volt simply could not get the name out. It was on the tip of his tongue, but his memory of everything that happened before he arrived at Hishoji's world was shrouded in a thick fog. Trying to remember only made his head hurt after a while, and in his frustration Volt decided to leave the hot spring and ask around the village for answers. It was at this point that he realized that he could not sit upright. No, not only could he _not_ sit upright, but Volt couldn't even move a single muscle in his body.

_Hey, what gives?_ As Volt started to struggle and break free of the invisible force binding him, he felt the water around him start to pick up speed. They began to carry him off, and all too soon the hot spring started to dissolve into a random assortment of colors, which was quickly replaced by pitch black darkness.

* * *

><p>Pain.<p>

It was the first sensation that Volt felt as he opened his eyes for real. The scenery that greeted him this time was a stark contrast to the one he had saw earlier. The sky that was cloudless had been painted entirely gray, and the sound of trickling water had been replaced by the harsh sound of pounding rain. What was warm water around him was now puddles of rainwater mixed with his blood.

And the rain was only making the pain worse. With a herculean effort, Volt managed to lift one of his hands off the ground. He looked at his arm curiously. The blue gleam of his trusted Jinouga armor had been completely blackened by the force of Sparkwolf's attack. As he continued staring, the armor crumbled away in front of his eyes, revealing his scarred skin underneath.

He had no doubt that every other piece of armor he was wearing would suffer the same fate. Still, an armor's duty is to protect, and in that sense it had done its job well. Volt yanked off his helmet, which was beginning to get filled with water, then dropped his hand to his eyes to protect them from the unforgiving rain. There wasn't a need to though, for at that moment the rain around him lightened drastically, allowing him to turn his head to the side.

His weapon was lying a few feet away from him, broken into countless pieces. Moments before Sparkwolf's attacked had hit, Volt had instinctively pulled out his weapon in front of him in a last-ditch effort to block the attack. It was possibly this action that had saved him, for the weapon had taken the brunt of the attack for him. In hindsight, Volt realized that he had been really lucky that none of the shattered pieces of his weapon had pierced his body. It would have been utter humiliation for a hunter to fall by his own blade.

_Still, that Jinouga's attack...i__f I've been a second later at pulling out my weapon... _Volt trembled at the thought.

* * *

><p>"<span>Now that's what I'll call a home run,<span>" Shinki nodded in approval of Sparkwolf's attack, which had sent Volt flying across half the field. Something then seemed to catch his attention as he whirled around to the Rajang, who was already heading towards a power line. "And where the hell are you going? We still haven't finished our-"

**"I told you, not today,"** The Rajang cut in, **"I've seen enough."**

Before Shinki could find a suitable retort, the Rajang leapt into the air and vanished. Knowing that there was no point in attempting to chase him down, Shinki turned towards Sparkwolf, who was sniffing the air once more.

**"He didn't die?"** Sparkwolf seemed indifferent to what his attack had done to Volt, who was now immobile and lying on the floor, barely visible from where they were standing. **"Once more, then."**

"Ironic isn't it, the armor made from your species protected him from your attack," Shinki clapped sarcastically, "But now that the Rajang is gone, I am in need of a new source of entertainment."

**"Entertainment? I have no interest in lowly humans like yourself. Although...Alatreon ****_did_**** say we could kill anyone who got in our way, as long as no one else sees it."**

"_Lowly humans'_? Have you been listening to what the Vespoid have been saying lately? These things ring a bell?" Shinki held up his hands, revealing the two mismatched gloves.

**"Vespoid? What are you-"** A flash of recognition appeared in Sparkwolf's eyes. **"Oh."**

"Bingo~"

* * *

><p>"Come on Volt, get up." Ayumi pulled Volt up from the ground and into a upright sitting position with the help of Elizabeth. The two girls had ran after the body of the hunter after he was flung like a doll across the field.<p>

"You know, for a moment there when the attack hit I thought you had..." Elizabeth didn't finish her sentence, but what she meant was clear.

"Died?" Volt let out a weak laugh. "Hunters don't die, they fall unconscious."

"How is that any different? Idiot." Ayumi chided him.

"Right, sorry," Volt apologized, then coughed violently as he spat out blood. "I'll be...alright. You should both go help Shinki."

He was lying, of course. Without immediate medical assistance Volt knew he would not be able to go on. Still, the last thing he wanted was for all of them to die together should the Jinouga launch another attack.

"Coughing out blood is _not_ alright. Isn't there something we could do to help?" Elizabeth shot a glance at Mark in her hands, as if expecting the latter to do something.

_"Uh...I only have one max potion in my inventory, and I'm saving it for a REAL emergency."_

"Really? I think this qualifies as a _real_ emergency," Elizabeth glared at Mark.

_"Okay, fine, but don't blame me for not having any more potions at my disposal should we really need one later on,"_ A bottle containing golden liquid materialized above Mark's screen. _"I'm not quite sure about how potions works here, but it should speed up the process of your wounds healing dramatically. It'll still take time though, so get yourself out of harm's way. If you take another hit before you're fully healed, I make no guarantees about your life."_

"Thanks," Volt took the potion, then waved the two of them off, "You really should go and help Shinki."

"Okay, try not to strain yourself too much." Ayumi reminded him, then stood up and ran in the direction of Shinki with Elizabeth.

Volt watched the two leave as they slowly disappeared under the heavy rain. With a sigh, he uncorked the potion and started to chug down the bitter liquid inside. The effect of the healing was not instantaneous, but by the time he had downed the whole potion he was feeling slightly better. Making his way over to his weapon with baby steps, Volt started to gather the broken shards one by one.

* * *

><p>"<span>So really, what kind of shitty nose do you have such that you're able to sniff out where the Rajang is, but not sniff out who we are?<span>"

**"Humph, your presence was completely overshadowed by the Rajang. Besides, all you humans look the same to me, small, weak, pathetic, the list goes on."** Sparkwolf looked from Shinki to the two girls approaching them.

"Ooh. So I'm small, weak and pathetic now, am I?" Shinki's face broke into a smile filled with malice. "You're making me angry."

**"Am I supposed to feel intimidated by that? Keep trying,"** Sparkwolf taunted, **"Just so you know, you have absolutely no chance of victory."**

Sparkwolf leaped at Shinki without waiting for his response, bringing one of his paws down hard on the latter. Shinki brought his right fist upwards to meet the attack, the spikes in Eternal Wrath piercing Sparkwolf's flesh. A small trickle of blood flowed out from his paw, but quickly vanished as it was turned into energy by the red aura around Sparkwolf.

**"You know you can't win,"** Sparkwolf's voice was confident, and rightfully so. **"Every wound you make on me only hastens your defeat!"**

He increased the pressure on his paw as he said that, attempting to crush Shinki under his entire body weight. Shinki responded to the added weight by raising his left hand to block the paw as well, although it was fairly obvious that he was fighting a losing battle.

"Blasted human body...never enough strength to do anything right," Shinki turned to the two girls who had just arrived at the scene after helping Volt. Their weapons were readied to attack the Jinouga, and Shinki knew he had to stop them before they gave Sparkwolf even more power. "Hold your fire! Attacking him head on will only lead to him getting stronger; find a way to attack him without drawing blood or something!"

The two girls hesitated, then lowered their weapons. They could easily see that Shinki was right; what little blood was spilled by the spikes of Eternal Wrath was quickly being used against him.

"Dammit, we can't just stand here and watch him get crushed," Ayumi tightened her grip on her Bowgun. "But it's impossible to attack without drawing blood. Argh, this is frustrating! What _can _we do?"

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking!" Elizabeth's eyebrows were furrowed. "Can't we have Wendy charge at him or something?"

Ayumi shook her head. "She said she needed excessive concentration to channel a rain on this large a scale and yet make it not affect us, so she's out for the entire battle."

"I seriously hope you two idiots are thinking up a battle plan to attack him without spilling any of his blood!" Shinki yelled at the two of them.

"You're asking the impossible! If it's doable, we'd have done it long ago!" Ayumi shouted back at him.

Remembering that she wasn't exactly alone, Ayumi decided to ask Shira for her advice.

_His back,_ Shira's voice was like a calming wave amidst the chaos of her thoughts. She had been calmly watching the battle through Ayumi's eyes, and had spotted what Kuroi had earlier. _The Great Thunderbugs gathered on his back. They're the ones allowing him to maintain this power for so long._

"So then if we wipe those bugs out, his power would be nullified?" Ayumi looked at Elizabeth, "Elizabeth, can you make it so your arrows hit his back from above?"

"I think so." Elizabeth prepared to fire, but as she notched the arrow she noticed that the arrowhead looked different from usual. It was boarder, as if it contained something inside. As she was about to shake it though, Mark let out an exclamation to stop her from doing so.

_"Don't shake it! You don't want it exploding in your face," _Seeing the confused expression on Elizabeth's face, Mark explained, _"It's an "Arrow Rain" type arrow, specifically made for situations where you need to use aerial attacks. After the arrow is released, the chemicals inside it react to each other and cause the arrowhead to explode. There are three different types, this one is a 'narrow' one. Just make sure you arc the shot right."_

Elizabeth shrugged as she readied her arrow again. She didn't exactly catch all of what Mark had said, but it sounded interesting, and she made a mental note to go home and look up information on the different types of "Arrow Rain" arrows. Ayumi loaded the Bowgun with Pellet shots, then gave her instructions to Wendy.

"Wendy, can you direct it my pellet shots upwards and then send them down onto the thing's back, and make it such that they don't split until they are near their target?"

**"I'll try."** The Daora responded from her cellphone.

As one, the Bow and Bowgun fired their respective projectiles. The wind generated by Wendy carried the two upwards, then made them turn sharply and veer downwards to Sparkwolf's back. The pellets from inside the arrow exploded midway, adding more power to the attack.

They never hit their target however, for all of the projectiles seemed to hit a wall in the form of the red aura before they could touch any of the Great Thunderbugs.

**"Did I mention the aura is actually a physical manifestation of my blood, and that it acts as a wall to protect against attacks on my back?"** Sparkwolf howled in glee at having outsmarted the three humans.

"What the hell...there's a limit to how overpowered something can be." Ayumi seemed crestfallen.

"For once, I agree with you," Shinki was on one of his knees now, the pressure from Sparkwolf's paw ever increasing. "I was saving this for the Rajang but whatever, you'll do."

Withdrawing his right hand, Shinki snapped his fingers once. Sparkwolf seemed mildly amused by the action, but seeing that Shinki had only one hand left to fend off his attack, started to push downwards with all his might.

The Jinouga didn't managed to push down Shinki for longer than a second before a meteor crashed directly into its back. Sparkwolf snorted as the flaming rock was halted by his defensive aura and dropped harmlessly onto the floor before dissipating into its base components and vanishing as though it never existed. **"Were you even listening when I was telling you all what my aura-"**

Shinki didn't wait for him to finish; he was snapping his fingers repeatedly so fast that they appeared to be a blur to both Ayumi and Elizabeth.

A steady stream of meteors fell from the sky in response to Shinki's finger snapping, all of them crashing into Sparkwolf. Each was precisely aimed at his back, and even as his aura faltered the meteors showed no sign of stopping.

"The hell the two of you waiting for? FIRE!" Shinki roared at the two girls, who promptly loaded their weapons again.

The swagger that Sparkwolf has had since going into his blood lightning mode left him as he realized the danger he was in. He lurched away from Shinki and checked his back; of the original twenty Great Thunderbugs he had borrowed, only three remained. The red aura was almost gone now, replaced by the more natural looking blueish white color.

The Jinouga snarled, knowing that he had just been aced in combat. Defeat was unacceptable, all the more so for a monster like him. Vowing revenge on the humans in front of him, Sparkwolf backed away until he was near the power lines outside, then pushed himself into the air and vanished in a burst of blue and white sparks.

* * *

><p>"So...we won right?" Elizabeth looked around. The entire field was flooded with rainwater that went all the way up to their knees.<p>

"Yeah." Ayumi muttered, then her expression hardened as she hit Shinki's head with the stock of her Bowgun.

"What the shit?" Shinki turned and lashed out at her, stopping his arm centimeters from her face. "Hell was that for?"

"If you had used that attack from the start it would have saved us a lot of trouble."

"It's not homing, I needed the target to be stationary," Shinki clicked his tongue, then lowered his voice. "Dammit, if Shira wasn't using you as a vessel I would've..."

"Would have _what_?" Ayumi narrowed her eyes, but Shinki had already returned control of the body back to Hishoji.

"Uh, if you're talking about a few seconds earlier he was thinking that he would have- GAG!" Hishoji felt his throat being constricted by invisible hands.

_Don't say it, asshole._ Shinki growled warningly.

"Never mind, forget I said anything," Hishoji avoided looking at Ayumi. "Let's go back to school?"


	25. After The Rain

**Author's Notes : I'm going to try and improve my chapters to make it better compared to the original from here on out. It's not exactly awesome material, but I'll improve with time I suppose. At the very least, you should see an increase in quantity.**

**This is late, but I finally got a damn name for the school Hishoji attends. Not that it really matters...(You'll find out why soon enough~!)**

**Oh, and my exams are approaching soon, so as usual I'm taking a 1 month break to study. ** (And maybe another additional week or so for gaming :3)**  
><strong>

* * *

><p>The canteen was bustling with activity in every corner as the students of Minazushi High spoke amongst themselves excitedly with much zest. Topics of conversation were being thrown around randomly, ranging from the latest gaming product out in the market to the laments of students whose electronic devices had been caught in the sudden downpour. The most prominent and reoccurring topic was one about the sighting of two large monstrous beings at the field, one shining a bright golden and the other a cool electric blue.<p>

The students sitting nearest to the windows had spotted the two beasts first, their attention having been drawn to them by the roars emitted from their mouths moments before they engaged in combat. Some thought they were dreaming in board daylight, and pinched or slapped themselves before they were convinced that what their eyes showed them was real. The ones that were undoubtedly the most excited at the sightings however, were the ones who had played the Monster Hunter series before. They knew exactly what the monsters standing before each other in the field were called, and tried their best to spread the news around the school.

Many found their words unbelievable of course, but those who had been sitting closest to the windows listened to the topic with great interest. For even if they didn't believe, it was a fact that they had seen _something _out on the field, and playing along with the theory about monsters came naturally. What else could be used to describe the giant beasts they had seen?

The rain had started to fall almost immediately after the students had spotted the monsters, and this caused the students with overactive imaginations to start saying that the whole thing was just a vast conspiracy. But it couldn't have been further from the truth; the rain had been there for the purpose of forcing the students away from the field to prevent any of them from getting hurt in the clash between the two creatures, and to block off whatever vision they had of the field at the same time.

None of the students knew this, and naturally more and more farfetched theories begun to spring up, each more absurd than the last. Between the excited students and the rain, no one noticed three students returning to the school from the field, the upper portion of their bodies impossibly dry despite being in the torrential rain for a period of time. The only evidence that they had even been in the field at all was their wet shoes, which had soaked in the rainwater on the ground as it slowly increased in quantity due to the downpour. Tiny puddles were left behind them as they walked, but the commotion in the canteen was such that no one pointed out the three's shoes at all as they mingled amongst the students.

What was even weirder, if one looked closely enough, was the fact that the single male in the group was wearing gloves that had mismatched colors. The two females carrying their bags would not have been as suspicious, although one would probably find themselves wondering why they were carrying their bags out in the heavy rain in the first place. The shorter of the two females placed her bag onto the floor the instant the group reentered the school, putting on a disgusted expression as she tugged at her wet socks.

"Ugh," Ayumi still couldn't get the water out of her shoes, which had unquestionably been ruined after the battle with Sparkwolf. The white shine they once possessed was now smeared with the brown of mud and dirt, and to make it worse, an odd squelching sounded every time she took a step forward. "This feels all icky and weird. Can't wait to change out of them."

"Hey, what happened to Volt?" Hishoji wasn't as concerned with his shoes as much as he was concerned with the hunter. When they had made their way back to school through the field, there had been no sight of Volt anywhere. "Did you two make sure he was alright or something?"

_He's alive. I sensed him leaving before the battle with the Jinouga was_ over. Kuroi answered Hishoji's question, even though it wasn't directed at him in the first place.

"We left him with a bottle of golden water or something. I think Mark called it a 'Max Potion'. I guess it did its job of healing him, and he left before we were finished with that wolf," Elizabeth replied, not knowing that Hishoji's question had already been answered. She turned her blue eyes towards the canteen, where students ranging from the juniors to the seniors were all in animated discussion over what had truly happened in the field. "What's with all the hubbub?"

One of the students with tousled black hair and a crazed look inside his eyes was running around, his untucked uniform flapping in the wind behind him as he moved. Hishoji quickly recognized the student as Edmund, the rumor-gatherer in his class. He could easily tell with one look that Edmund had stumbled upon yet another rumor, for it was the only time he would get this pumped up. The next words out of the latter's mouth as he confronted a group of students confirmed Hishoji's suspicions. "Holy shit, how did you guys _not _see the monsters?"

"Hey Hishoji, isn't he from your class?" Ayumi whispered, not wanting to draw the attention of the batty looking Edmund as he continued his ramblings about monsters in the field. His voice was loud enough to be easily heard even amid the sound made by the other students.

"Uh huh," Hishoji nodded, then hollered at the student, "Oi, Edmund! The hell you doing?"

The student known as Edmund turned as he was addressed by his name, mouth half open in the middle of explaining the rumor about the monsters. Making eye contact with the one who had called him, Edmund turned back to the expectant students before him and apologized, then approached Hishoji with a sheepish look on his face.

"Uh, just spreading the news around. The class went into total chaos moments after you left for the toilet. You have no idea what you missed, I swear, there were these two huge-" He stopped speaking and blinked at Hishoji, the excitement in his eyes replaced by confusion as he noticed the two girls standing beside the latter. "Wait, I thought you were at the toilet, what are you doing on the first floor with Elizabeth and...who is this?"

"Oh, sorry, forgot you didn't know my sister. This is Ayumi. Ayumi, this is Edmund," Hishoji let out a sigh of relief. He thought Edmund had saw the wet shoes he was wearing, and was going to accuse him of being out in the field during the rain. With the introduction, Hishoji had bought himself enough time to think up a suitable response, and decided to go with what was partially the truth. "I'm actually here with them because I thought I saw something in the field earlier, and wanted to get a closer look."

"I knew others saw them too!" Edmund let out a cry of exhilaration as the shine returned to his eyes. "Come on, we should go tell everyone. At least with one eyewitness, it'll be easier for them to believe me."

Hishoji smiled, glad that Edmund had bought his story. Politely refusing the latter's offer, Hishoji started to make his way back to class, Elizabeth and Ayumi trailing along after him. Edmund was persistent, and followed the three all the way up the stairs, asking the two girls to help him spread the news as well. They rejected of course; neither of the girls was in any mood to run around school screaming their heads off. As the three was nearing the end of their patience with him, the sound of a bell ringing reverberated throughout the school and its corridors, the signal that an announcement was about to be made.

_"All students, please proceed to the hall immediately."_

"Aw, shucks." Edmund frowned at the thought that he wouldn't be able to run around freely for much longer. He started towards the hall while screaming about the monsters again, completely forgetting about Hishoji's group. The group was naturally glad to watch him go, for this meant that they wouldn't have to tolerate his voice pestering them again.

"Weird guy," Ayumi commented. "Really quite a nuisance."

"Hey, don't badmouth him behind his back," Hishoji still considered Edmund a good friend, even if the latter could get annoying at times when he was caught up in his rumors. "His rumors sometimes have truth in them. Edmund's just a little...ecstatic, that's all."

"I wouldn't exactly call that ecstatic," Elizabeth grinned. "More like obsessed with getting people to believe him. Anyway, we should head to the hall."

* * *

><p>Roughly ten minutes later, every student in Minazushi High was packed inside the school hall as their principal addressed them with a hint of nervousness in his voice. The figure of authority known as Principal Kun was trying his best to appear normal, but his constant sweating and shifty eyes were more than enough for the students to tell that something was wrong. As he waited for the students to settle down, Principal Kun took out a striped handkerchief from his pocket to wipe the sweat off his forehead, then forcefully stuffed it back into his pocket only to take it out another ten seconds later to use it again.<p>

There was good reason for the principal to be this nervous. When the bell to signal the start of lessons had sounded earlier in the morning, Principal Kun had decided to take a leisurely stroll around the school, beginning from his office and ending with the field. How he regretted making that decision now.

Everything had been normal when Principal Kun left his office to begin the stroll. He had walked slowly outside the school's classrooms, taking in the scene of students listening to their teachers, attentively or otherwise. On any other day he would have chided them for not paying attention to the lesson, but at that particular moment he was feeling quite elated, for Minazushi High had been in the local newspaper for being one of the top schools in Yarino City.

Closing his eyes to the sleeping students, Principal Kun had then set his sights on the school canteen, passing by the walls adorned with art portraits designed by the best students in the school. He had taken a moment to admire the works, each a delicate piece of work, with splashes of paint here and there to form pictures of all forms. It was while he was in the middle of appreciating the artworks that he had heard the jarring sound of the monsters' roars.

His first thought was that it had been some student playing a sick joke of some sort, playing some form of loud musical instrument to disrupt the serenity of the school early in the morning. The sound had originated from the field, and Principal Kun had rushed towards it without hesitation, already beginning to think up some kind of punishment for the unlucky student. The canteen had been empty as the principal passed it _en route_ to the field; most, if not all of the students were in their classrooms. The field should have been empty as well, for sports lessons were not due to start until an hour later. But it wasn't, and that was the problem.

The field had been occupied, but not by another human being. Two huge, grand beasts that towered above the principal were facing each other off, and for a moment Principal Kun had found himself lost in his thoughts. His mind had drifted back to the newspaper he read earlier in the morning, where there had been an article about monster sightings around the city. He had dismissed it as hogwash then, but there was hardly another fitting explanation for what he was seeing. The weather took a change for the worse just then, and in a few moments the rain blocked off his sight of the creatures. But the principal had known by then what he had seen.

He hasn't smiled since then, and Principal Kun was certainly not about to smile any time soon. He could try to explain to his colleagues what he had seen, but more likely than not they would just laugh him off. Worse still, the parents of the students in the school would probably think him demented for seeing 'monsters', things that were not supposed to exist in the first place. What could he do then, but feign ignorance?

"Right then, onto the topic on hand," The principal cleared his throat, causing hundreds of eyes belonging to the students to focus on him."I'm aware that students have been running rampant around the school yelling out rubbish about monsters being sighted. Let me remind you that monsters are about as real as this ghost you all have been claiming to see around the school compounds. They absolutely do not exist!"

He had added the part about the ghost in just for the heck of it. There had been claims about a mysterious robed figure hanging around the school, and whenever anyone spotted it, the figure would just fade away as though it never existed. The principal had no idea whether the monsters were related to the robed figure, but he simply shook his balding head, then continued, "However, while we may dismiss one or two claims, I have to admit that the large number of reports is beginning to make me concerned for all of your well-beings. That is why I have decided to get someone from the police force to settle this entire matter of the ghost in the compound and the monsters, to prove to everyone once and for all that they are nothing but figments of your overactive imagination!"

Principal Kun left the stage hurriedly after saying that, leaving another teacher to take charge of the mic. He had already dialed the police minutes after spotting the monsters, and had been told that they would send someone to handle the case. His colleagues can say he was overreacting all they want; they weren't at the field with him in the morning. The police would be able to take care of the monsters. After all, the last thing the principal wanted was to be face-to-face with one of the beasts he had spotted in the morning.

Much to the surprise and joy of Hishoji, the teacher who had taken over the mic told the students to head straight home after being dismissed from the hall, explaining that the police would coming in to investigate and that they wouldn't like any disruptions.

"Sweet, early dismissal," Hishoji muttered to himself, just as his cellphone received a message from Ayumi reminding him of the work they had to do at Dean's after school. He let out a groan immediately after that, the happiness disappearing just as quickly as it had came. "Damn, she sure knows how to kill my mood."

* * *

><p><strong>"So! The wolf returns with nothing in tow. Why am I not surprised?" <strong>Alatreon glared at Sparkwolf, who returned the glare with a scowl.

**"Wasn't expecting those humans to interfere,"** Sparkwolf looked away after a few moments, not wanting to maintain eye contact with the Glittering Black Dragon any longer. **"Besides, I lost a horn too, so it's not like I got away unharmed."**

**"You know what, forget it. Screw that Rajang. You see that wall over there?"** Alatreon turned his head in the direction of a nearby stone wall.

**"What about it?"**

**"I am ****_THIS_**** close to making your other horn, nay, ****_YOUR ENTIRE HEAD_**** a permanent decoration on it."**

Sparkwolf yelped as multiple icicles erupted out of the ground in front of him, stopping mere centimeters short from his face. The expression on the Jinouga's face was torn between fear and anger as he looked at the Elder Dragon before him once again.

**"And what makes it worse is that you left evidence of your attack everywhere on that field. Do you want the whole city to know of our existence?"**

**"It's not like the whole of Minegarde didn't know about us back when we were in the game so...why not?"** Sparkwolf retreated slowly from the icicles in front of him.

**"****_BECAUSE I SAID SO!_****"** More icicles formed behind Sparkwolf, blocking his escape path. **"I intend for the vessels of the Trio to pay for helping them as well. We must not leave behind any evidence that we exist, so that they will eventually be driven mad, unable to tell anyone about us. Then their vessels will start to blame the Fatalis for being there in the first place, creating internal strife within their ranks."**

**"What the heck, you're talking about the Trio as if they had a whole arsenal of monsters at their command."**

**"They don't, but it never hurts to be cautious, especially around something like a Fatalis,"** The Elder Dragon then cocked his head to one side, a hint of madness dancing in his eyes as a smile slowly spread over his face. **"I've already dispatched someone to deal with the scorch marks of your attack on the field. Shouldn't be too hard for someone like him. Or was it a 'her'? Well, probably an 'it'. Now then, that brings back the big question. Since you failed to kill the trio, what shall I do with you?"**

* * *

><p>The rain had stopped after the students were dismissed, and the students who had forgotten their umbrellas said silent prayers. If only they knew the unnatural phenomenon was caused by a single girl and an Elder Dragon hiding inside her cellphone...<p>

* * *

><p>"Uh, so why are you following us again?" Hishoji asked Elizabeth as the two of them arrived at the school gate, where Ayumi was waiting for them. "You do know we're going off to work right?"<p>

"Yeah, but I was thinking if I should go look for Volt, since he'll probably need a new set of armor and weapon. And since he's probably at your house, I might as well follow you guys."

"Eh, whatever," Hishoji shrugged as the trio left the school and walked along the pavement. "But if you're coming with us you should help out too."

"I know what you're thinking, Hishoji," Ayumi playfully hit Hishoji on his shoulder, "Don't agree to help, Elizabeth. He'll dump his entire workload on you and slack off whenever possible."

"Tch, am I _that_ easy to read?" Hishoji sighed.

A man dressed in a black suit and overcoat walked past the trio, bumping into Hishoji as he passed them. Hishoji staggered a little as the man's arm hit him; he didn't anticipate the strength coming from the arms hidden underneath the overcoat. The man turned to give him a disapproving stare, and Hishoji felt sure that if looks could kill, he would have died long ago to the man glaring at him. The man's gaze never left the trio until he turned the corner towards Minazushi High.

"Huh? What was that about?" Hishoji scratched his head.

"Dunno, but it's the second weird guy I've seen today, down to the clothes," Ayumi noted the direction the man was headed in. "Wasn't he heading towards our school?"

"Might be that police force thingy Principal Kun got to investigate our school," Elizabeth reminded them. "It doesn't really concern us anyway, so let's just go."

* * *

><p>"Ah, you must be from the police force," Principal Kun addressed the man in black as he stepped in the school gate. After a moment, the principal looked out the gate, half expecting to see a car filled with other similarly dressed men as the one that had just entered the school. Seeing none, the principal turned back to the man to address his concern. "Hmm, did they only send you?"<p>

Principal Kun made a mental note to double check with the police if they had sent the correct man for the job. The man's cropped back black hair, with his high nose and piercing black eyes complemented the black suit and overcoat that he was wearing. He didn't look like he was from the police though, if anything, it was more like he was a secret government agent from the FBI sent to investigate aliens.

"The police are currently shorthanded. There has been a breakout of viral diseases, and it has reduced the amount of men we have drastically," The man's voice was sharp, he spoke as if him being in the school was a complete waste of time. "But that is beside the point. My name is Ikio. You do not need to introduce yourself. I have already obtained information about your situation through the police. Now, Mr Kun, let's get down to business."

"Wait, _through_ the police?" Principal Kun looked at Ikio, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. "I thought you _were _the police."

"I am. But I came from an external division. To be precise, I came from several other divisions. You can say I've pretty much worked in every squad the police had at least once in my life."

"Are you serious?" The principal was finding it hard to believe, and anyone else in his place would too. Ikio didn't look like he was past thirty, and if Principal Kun had to make a rough guess, he would have said twenty-eight. Claiming that he worked in every squad the police had probably meant that he was so bad at the job that they kicked him out to another division the moment they had the chance.

"I can tell what you're thinking from the look on your face. Don't worry, I'm good at what I do. Perhaps a little _too_ good, which is why every division wants me to be part of them so badly that I had to switch constantly," Ikio addressed the principal's concerns even without the latter speaking about them. "I even have some experience in the supernatural. There was this division I joined once called SITS – Supernatural Investigation and Termination Squad. I was in for a day, then I quit. It was a complete joke of a division which had only one other person who did nothing but sit in her office all day slacking off."

Ikio chuckled a little, as if he had just said a joke. Seeing that the principal didn't seem to find what he had just said funny, Ikio quickly straightened his own face and continued, "People like her kind irk me. There was no point in being the police if you aren't enforcing the law at all. But I digress; what I'm trying to get across is that I can easily handle whatever you are going to throw at me."

"Yes...well, you're never going to believe me. But at least having someone on the case eases some of the burden on my shoulders," Principal Kun led Ikio to the field where the students had reported sightings of the monsters. Now that the rain had stopped, the water was draining out fast. "So the students were saying something about monsters in the field. I...well, keep it quiet, but I think I saw them as well."

"Is that so?" Ikio raised an intrigued eyebrow, then focused his attention to the field. "And exactly _how_ would you describe these 'monsters'?"

"For one thing, they were huge. Easily four to six meters in height. One of them was yellowish-black in color, and I think the other was blue. They were standing in the middle of the field- over there." He pointed to the rough location of where the two beasts had been standing.

"Alright, that will be enough for now. Middle of the field, it is. Leave me to my own devices for now, I'll call you should I need it." Ikio was already stepping into the muddy field without much regard for the grime, heading for the area which the principal had pointed at.

"Ah-right, okay. I'll tell the security guard to let you out through the front gate when you need to leave." Principal Kun excused himself, returning to his office with a significantly lighter heart than before.

"Yes, you do that," Ikio muttered, looking at the remaining rainwater on the floor reflecting the bright rays of the afternoon sun. There was a conspicuous black area which could only be seen when one approached the middle of the field, the mark left behind by the Jinouga when it had attacked Volt. "That looks like a good place to start."

* * *

><p>On the corner of the field, at the toilet which the Dromes had used as a hiding place in the morning, a hooded figure and a Kut Ku on the roof of the tiny building watched as Ikio approached the middle of the field slowly, scrutinizing every little detail.<p>

**"How troublesome, having to fix the damage caused by monsters everywhere,"** The hooded figure raised an arm and waved at the field, causing the ground that was blackened by Sparkwolf's attack to seemingly fade away. **"Do me a favor, dear, and check if it's done."**

The Kut Ku squawked. **"You're starting to creep me the hell out with that attitude of yours. Seriously Mirage, stop randomly adding 'dear' to every sentence you say. You aren't human, and no matter how much you try to act like one, you'll never be one."**

**"But I am!"** The figure pulled the hood backwards, revealing a beautiful face with purple eyes, a straight nose, full lips and long silky hair that matched the colors of her(?) eyes. Mirage smiled. **"See?"**

**"You're not fooling anyone, man. You know I know about your powers. And besides, I can read your thoughts." **The Kut Ku let out another shrill cry.

**"Well, it was worth a shot anyway,"** Mirage twirled a strand of her(?) hair around her(?) fingers as she(?) watched Ikio move closer to the middle of the field. The detective had come to a standstill in front of the spot which was blackened ground less than ten seconds ago. Mirage had been watching him with great curiosity since he first entered the field. **"So, Mr Detective, how will you react to this, I wonder?"**

* * *

><p>Ikio looked at the ground in front of him. It was like something out of a science fiction show: the ground that was originally blackened had faded away, taking on the same brownish floor of the muddy field in front of his eyes. It was as though the black spot had been made of chalk, and something invisible was using a duster to rub it away. The detective couldn't make heads or tails of what had happened, but marks on the floor definitely did not just disappear like that.<p>

For a moment he considered whether he had just been the target of supernatural activity. Then he laughed at the fact that he had thought about considering it in the first place. Ikio didn't believe in the supernatural. For him, everything could easily be explained by solid evidence, or science.

But try as he could, Ikio simply could not come up with a reason as to why the floor had suddenly underwent such a drastic change. He frowned and looked around the field once more. The entire area was muddy, and any other evidence would no doubt have been washed away long before he got here. He would have to be faster next time.

As he turned towards the exit, Ikio felt the hair between his shoulder blades beginning to stand on their ends. This was a feeling not unfamiliar to him, for he had felt it more than enough throughout the entire course of his career. It was the unmistakeable feeling of someone watching him. Turning back, Ikio directed his piercing gaze towards the toilet at the end of the field, the only possible area for someone to hide in.

Something was there, he was sure of it.

* * *

><p><strong>"Eh? Ehhhh? Is he staring at us? He's staring at us, right?"<strong> The Kut Ku began to get jumpy. **"Do something, Mirage!"**

**"Impossible, he can't see us. My power is at its strongest when it affects me, so even if he knows the truth, there is no way for him to break this illusion,"** Mirage folded her(?) arms. **"But that man...I think he's onto something. Come on dear, make yourself useful for once and read his thoughts."**

**"Ooh, I forgot I can do that,"** The Kut Ku closed his eyes and concentrated as his ear unfolded and the runes on them lit themselves up one by one. After a few seconds, the ear closed and took its place behind the Kut Ku's neck once more. **"Yeah, he can't see us, but he knows he's being watched. Anyway, he has no intention of investigating the field once more, so we should just leave him be."**

**"Humph. Too bad, I thought he would pose a challenge for my powers for once. Well, let's go dear." **Mirage slid off the rooftop, waiting for the Kut Ku to follow.

**"Man, seriously, stop 'dear'-ing me,"** The Bird Wyvern landed at the area beside Mirage, and then took flight as she(?) hopped onto his back. **"Someday I'm going to think up a word to annoy you with."**

**"Good luck with that, chicken." **A spark of anger flashed in the Kut Ku's eyes; Mirage's taunt had hit a raw nerve. The anger was quickly dismissed however, and the pair started on their journey back in silence.

* * *

><p>The feeling passed, but Ikio kept his eyes on the toilet. He hadn't seen anyone exit or enter the building at all, but it didn't hurt to be sure. As he got within three feet of the toilet, Ikio's sharp eyes noticed something on the floor. Squatting down to take a closer look, Ikio tilted his head sideways in confusion.<p>

Fresh footprints. One pair of human feet, small and delicate, probably a female's. The other...Ikio almost kissed the mud the way he brought his head closer and closer to the floor to try and make out what manner of a creature the footprint belonged to. It didn't look human in the least, that Ikio was sure of. Three long toes, at least twice as long as the human pair of feet beside it, each ending with a deep indent into the mud.

"Claws?" Ikio could hardly believe what he was seeing. Then, remembering the reason he was approaching the toilet in the first place, Ikio drew his revolver out of his holster and slowly advanced into the building. A quick check revealed the place to be deserted, and Ikio found himself sweating more than he had thought he would.

Replacing the gun back into its holster, Ikio considered what the principal had said, seriously this time. He had been skeptical of the principal earlier, but had done a good job of hiding it. But the footprints had proved that the principal hasn't been lying. He hasn't seen anyone near the toilet, and yet the footprints had been fresh. Something had been standing at that spot in front of the toilet, something not human.

But even if there really _were _monsters out there, Ikio wasn't about to give up on the case. He had believed himself able to handle anything, and he still did. There hasn't been a case in which the detective had not been able to solve since he started his career, and Ikio was not about to let this be the first. Monsters or no monsters, he was sure of one thing.

"This case is just beginning."


End file.
